With These Broken Wings
by Niri
Summary: Two young alchemists, who never learned to reach out. An angel and a demon, paired together. A silent child, a hyperactive girl. When Mustang pairs them together, they must learn to trust...in order to survive.
1. Character Bios and Chp 1

effing retarded...:cough: sry, i'm kinda annoyed...so, this is the character bios, as well as chapter one...i just hope it loads...

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**Name:** Bellator Wings (Bella for short, and do not call her Miss Wings or Wings, SHE'LL KILL YOU! Just look at what she did to the phone when she was talking to Roy Mustang::points to scorched phone:) 

**Age:** 15, her birthday is October 24th, 1899 (remember, the story takes place in 1913, to all of you who are either morons, or aren't paying attention at all)

**Hometown:** Where ever the Ishbal live in FMA, but then she found a place to chill in Rush Valley (never go there, you'll have all you money stolen)

**Major Personality Traits:** (This girl has a split personality, but in a good way, it just depends on the mood of everyone else around her.) Cold-hearted, evil, a criminal, fears nothing, a dreamer, fiery, can't be emotionally hurt (with all the crap she's been through, who couldn't?) strong willed, short-tempered when people refer to her as a object (Such as Ed's girl or Wings), hates the whole "Ishbal people are evil, let's kill them all" thing, and she's very independent, and will kill when it's necessary (All of you: Kill::gulp: Me::cackles: Everyone::backs away slowly:)

**Looks like:** Light brown hair that falls to her mid-back and bangs always get into her eyes (basically, they look like Ed's bangs,but a little smoother, and minus the cowlick) She is only half Ishbal, so she is just a little tan, and has deep red eyes (like all Ishbal people) but she uses alchemy to change them to deep blue. She is 170cm (2 in. taller than Edward)and she wears a black trench coat (everyone::rolls eyes:Me: HEY! I LIKE TRENCH COATS!) white halter top, black pantsand boots, and white gloves.

**Background Crap:** :in crappy French accent: Ok, here 'le short version: Mother died in a fire when she was 7, brother died when she was 10, trying to attempt the forbidden Human Transmutation (she doesn't know her father) reach her hand into the little portal thing that sucked up her brother (If you have watched that part of FMA, you know what the hell I'm talking about) but couldn't save her brother and lost her LEFT arm (left handed people). was desperately in need of help, and so an automail specialist named (dun, dun, dun, dun) JOEY! (sucky name huh?) help her out, and now she has an AUTOMAIL LEFT ARM! Then after that, she decided to join the military (even though she was Ishbal and they wanted to kill her) so she did, and nobody knew she was Ishbal because she changed her eyes blue and said she was tan, because of the sun!

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**Name: **Kenrai "Reian", The Angel's Daughter Alchemist, or Angel for short (no last name!...yet...)

**Age: **15

**Eye Color: **deep blue-green

**Hair Color: **light brown, with gold highlights, andbangs cover herright eye; reaches mid-back when held up in a ponytail or braid, which is always...if she let it down, which she hasn't done for 12 years, in would reach pasther waist.

**Attitude: **withdrawn, sad, silent, cold but not cruel, watchful, protective of her friends (if any) and now-dead family, appears emotionless.

**Automail: **right arm to mid-chest, left leg

**Bio: **Her parents were murdered while she watched when she was three, no living relations beside her(majorly) evil uncle who is only related by blood, because he was kicked out of her family for a _very_ big crime, lived alone since the death of her aunt and parents, now cares for no one in any way positive.

**Alchemical Abilities: **Elemental master (Me: whoo hoo::gets hit by lighting: ouch...), forms circle with her hands like Ed, can call "Angel's Wings" onto her back at will (now you see where her name came from), has great potential and ability, is ahealer and awarrior.

**Other: **Unknown lineage, possess a hidden grace and moves like the water or wind, swift, agile, no known last name (doesn't know who her family was, idiots!), family crest "automail" circle over heart, left wrist is always bandaged and covers a teardrop over ten-pointed star (five-pointed star over another five-pointed star) on underside, another scar on her right ankle (winged teardrop)covered with a bandage

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"_Teachings that do not speak of pain have no meaning, because humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. In other words, "Equivalent Exchange." To obtain something, something of equal value must be lost. It's the way of alchemy" _Those same exact words were spoken to two small girls, who possessed an unyielding power…… 

"God damn Mustang! Who does he think he is, bugging me when I'm trying to do something?" muttered a young girl as she walked down the hallway of the military headquarters. She brushed her brown bangs out of her eyes as she stomped off towards the Colonel's office. She quickened her pace, letting her black trench coat fly behind her. Her long brown hair flew behind her as well. She passed by 2nd Lt. Hawkeye.

"Oh, Hello Bella. Are you going to see the Colonel?" She asked

"Yes." Bella answered, "He wanted to see me for something."

"Well, then I better be going now. Have a nice day" Hawkeye said.

"Thanks. You too." Bella replied. She smiled as she turned around. _At least someone in this stupid place doesn't call me Miss Wings. _She thought. She walked up to the door and opened it.

"What do you want now, Mustang?" she asked a little annoyed. The black-haired Colonel turned around to face her.

"Hello Miss Wings. I'm happy you came." He smirked. Bella glared at him. One thing that ticked her off the most was being called Miss Wings.

"Please, have a seat." He said as he gestured towards the chair in front of the desk. Bella plopped down and crossed her legs. She whipped her head around as she heard the door open a little. She looked at a young girl, about her age walk inside the room. The girl had beautiful brown hair with golden streaks, and dark green-blue eyes that looked empty. The girl had no expression at all when she walked in. She quietly sat down in the chair next to Bella.

"Miss Wings, this here is Rei, the Angel's Daughter Alchemist." Roy said, gesturing to the young girl. The girl looked up at Bella and smiled a weak smile.

"And Rei, this is Bella Wings. The Devil's Angel Alchemist." Roy continued. "I'm assigning you two as partners." He said. Bella shot up from her seat.

"Mustang, this better be one of your dumbass jokes to try and impress me! You know I work alone!" she said. She pounded her fist on the desk.

"Sorry Wings," he smirked as she glared at him again, "but I've already decided. You need someone to control your anger, and she needs someone to talk to, since she hardly talks. Well, you two better be going now." Roy said. Rei got up quietly from her seat.

"If you weren't the Colonel, I'd punch the smirk, right off your face!" Bella said.

"Yes, yes, we all know that." Said Roy, as he pushed them out of the room. "Goodbye." He said.

"Go to hell, Mustang……." Bella said as she was pushed out of the room. "God I hate him…" she muttered. She looked up from the ground at the Rei. She was wearing a beautiful white and blue kimono, and dark red obi, with white boots. Her sleeves drooped down, so you could only see her fingertips.

"So, I guess we're partners now." Said Bella. She put out her hand. "Hi, I'm Bella." She said as she smiled very happily. Rei looked at her and walked away. "Hey! What's your problem!" asked Bella.

"I'm not here to baby-sit a wanna be alchemist." She said plainly.

"Hey! Who you calling a wanna be alchemist! I'll just let you know, I'm as good as the great Fullmetal Alchemist!" she said angrily. Rei ignored her and continued walking.

"Hey! Listen to people when they are talking to you!" Bella yelled.

"Colonel is right, you do have anger issues." Rei said as she turned around to Bella. Bella sighed.

"Ugh! What is your problem! Can't you tell when someone's trying to be polite! Gah! I knew Mustang was being an idiot for giving me a partner." She said. She turned around to face Rei, but she was already turning a corner down the hall.

"Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Bella as she chased after her. When Bella had finally caught up, Rei was outside headquarters.

"Ok. Well, first things first, let's catch a train ride towards Lior. The Philosopher's Stone has to be there!" Bella said. Rei turned to her.

"Baka. The stone doesn't even exist. Now get the hell out of here before I kill you." She said, in anger.

She walked towards the train station as Bella chased after her.

"The stone is too real! Why would I waste my time, looking for something to bring my dead mother and brother back, if it wasn't real!" Bella shouted, really annoyed by Rei.

"Shut the hell up, baka. That stone won't help you bring them back." Rei said as she quickened her pace.

"What the hell is a baka?" asked Bella, confused as she followed Rei. Rei turned around.

"A baka is a fool, or an idiot. A.k.a., you." She said as she turned back around, and headed for the train station. Bella looked at her dumbfounded. Bella couldn't understand why Rei was acting very rude and mean. As they passed by some shops quietly, Bella looked into a window at her reflection. Her beautiful deep blue eyes shined in the sun. She smiled at her image, but looked again, and saw her eyes were a dark red. She gasped a little terrified.

"What the hell is it now….." said Rei, annoyed.

"Ummm….. nothing." Bella replied. She quickly darted into an alleyway. Rei looked at her curiously and sighed as she followed. As Rei walked into the alleyway, she saw from behind, Bella waving her hand in front of her face, and a few sparks coming from her fingertips. Bella sighed and turned around.

"What were you doing, baka?" Asked Rei.

"None of your business." said Bella. Rei swiftly turned around and walked out, with Bella behind her. Bella stopped dead as she heard a noise. She turned around, but saw nothing. She heard it again.

"What is that noise?" She asked herself. She walked back inside the alleyway. She followed the sound to a pile of boxes. As she was looking through the boxes, a small kitten popped out. The kitten looked to be only a few weeks old. It was completely black, except around its nose, paws, belly, and parts of its ears were white. Bella smiled at the young cat, and helped it out of the boxes. She sat it down on the ground and walked away. The kitten followed her out. As Bella reached Rei, the kitten meowed.

"What was that noise?" asked Rei as she turned around to face Bella. Bella turned around and saw the kitten again.

"Oh, the kitten must have followed me out of the alleyway." Bella said as she picked it up. "Aren't you a cutie." She said as she tickled its stomach. "I'm gonna keep him and name him Asher." She said.

"Whatever. It'd better not slow us down." said Rei. Bella putAsher down and they followed Rei to the train station. Bella walked up to the lady at the counter.

"Two tickets to Lior please." She said.

"We aren't going to Lior! We are going to the Rush Valley first!" said Rei

"But do you know how boring that place is!" Bella complained. "We're going to Lior! I don't care what you say!" Bella was frustrated. She couldn't stand Rei at all. Rei gave up.

"Fine, we'll do it your way. Since you'll never shut up" She said. Bella jumped in the air.

"Yay! Finally!" Bella said. Rei looked at Bella as Bella danced around happily with Asher, and bought the tickets. _She's __way__ to hyper. I'm gonna kill Mustang the next time I see him, Colonel or not, _she thought.

Rei sat down at one of the seats on the train and sighed. She wasn't enjoying her new partner. She really couldn't trust anyone after what had happened with her parents and aunt. She had no one at all, and lived by herself.

"So, what's your family like?" asked Bella, across from her with Vincint in her arms. Rei ignored her.

"I never knew my dad. You could say he was never around." She started. "And my mother. She was the kindest person you could ever meet. Always helping people. She was a doctor in the war in Ishbal. She survived that, but was killed, trying to save me and my older brother in a fire." Rei looked at her, with no emotion. She couldn't understand why Bella was telling her this. Bella looked down at Vincint, who was sleeping, and she smiled.

"My brother was very brave. He protected me for those last 3 years of his life. He had tried to do the Human Transmutation, but died. I was excluded from our village, because I could perform alchemy. No one liked it there. They said alchemists strayed away from the path of god." Bella was petting Vincint, very lightly on the head, still staring down at the ground.

"When he preformed the transmutation, I tried to save him, but lost my left arm. But, now, I am able to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle, but with fixing simple things, since it wasn'tme who had preformed the sin." Vincint yawned and moved over to Bella's side. "After that, the only person who took me in was an automail specialist. He attached automail to my left shoulder, so I could use it again." She looked up at Rei and smiled.

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Rei.

"We're gonna be together for a while, so its best we know each other a little. We're gonna have to learn to trust each other." Bella said. Bella yawned.

"Gosh, I'm tired. I think I'll gonna go to sleep." She rested her head against the window and drifted off to sleep. Rei looked out the window of the train and thought to herself. _I can't trust anyone. I'll just be betrayed again. But...she's so open, most of the time...maybe... _As she thought this over, she too had drifted off to sleep.

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Hey! just a lil side note: this chaper was written by Ember (the crazy one), k? and fudge goes to the first ah...two or three (maybe more) people who can guess who created which character! 


	2. Chp 2 Part 1

Hiya again! here's part one of chapter two, fresh from the press! ...ok, that sounded odd, buti always wanted to say something stupid like that...oh well!

oh, and Bella's name for thekitten is Asher, and Rei calls it Koneko, k?

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When Rei woke up, Bella was already awake and playing with Koneko. She looked outside, so Bella wouldn't see the flash of pain in her eyes as she saw the kitten that looked so much like her only friend, before the fire…_Baka! You are not allowed to think of that! Focus on…what? We're already in Lior!_ she sighed quietly as she succeeded in diverting her thoughts. 

Bella glanced up when she heard the sigh. "Finally, you're up! We've been in Lior for a while now, and they just said we'll be arriving at the station pretty soon."

Rei glanced at Bella. _Oh goody, she's gonna start annoying me with pointless comments…prepare for constant babbling._ She looked out the window again, and was surprised when Bella didn't start talking about the Philosopher's Stone, and how she was going to get it from whoever had it. _Finally, someone who doesn't always talk…_. In the past, she'd always had an annoying partner, who never stopped talking. Mustang, damn him, had said that he only wanted her to learn to open up, but after a year and who knows how many partners who were checked into the hospital, he had finally left her alone. _Until now…Damn him! I was just fine on my own!_

"Um…Rei? Are you okay?" Bella saw the flash of anger that had briefly lit up Rei's emotionless face. _Hmmm…wonder who she hates so much? Probably Mustang…or me…_

Rei turned to her, her face completely emotionless now. "No one calls me Rei, except close friends and family. To you, my name is Angel's Daughter," she winced at the name, "or Reian, if you must."

"Fine then, Angel. So, when we get off the train, we're gonna find the baki who has the stone, and beat him up!" Bella was determined to beat up the guy who had the stone…_very_ determined.

Rei winced at her name, but decided it was better than Angel's Daughter. _Damn you, whoever created that name!_ "Its baka, not baki," she corrected Bella.

Bella was surprised that Rei cared if she said the words right. She was about to ask, when Rei answered her.

"Japanese is the language of my people and family. I really do not like it when others cannot say the simplest of words right."

Bella nodded. She understood how Rei felt. Inwardly, she grinned. _Ha! She opened up! Score one for me!_

_Baka! Why did I just say that!_ Rei was inwardly berating herself. _I'm not supposed to care what others think! I'm not supposed to care if they say stuff wrong!_ She looked out the window again, and saw the scenery slow down as the train stopped. "Let's go. I hate trains." She led Bella off the train, happy to be off the moving…_thing_…

_A while later…_

"Argh! Damn this town! Where is the freakin' Philosopher's Stone!" They had been walking all day, and still couldn't find the stone, so Bella was…mad. Very mad.

Rei, on the other hand, was fine. She had been looking around, and now had a detailed map of the whole town in her head. _Always know the enemy better than yourself. Know their home inside and out, and find the paths they do not know._ That was what her sensei had always told her, before…

"Hey! Angel! Are you even listening to me!" Bella was very mad. And even that was an understatement.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening. But are you looking?" she pointed to an old man who stood on a platform raised above everyone else. On his finger was a ring, with a red stone on it. In his hand was a rose, which he changed into a sunflower. As the crowd cheered, they saw two people who looked out of place: a short boy with blond hair pulled back in a braid and bangs that got in his eyes, and a tall suit of armor that talked to him. When the old man walked off, they followed.

"We following them?" Bella asked. She had seen the stone.

"Why not? We might learn something interesting…lets go!" Rei led the way, and they darted after the three into a nearby church.

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hiya again! k, Kira (the mature one) wrote this chapter, and i'm _still waiting_ for someone glares at readers to guess who made which character! (looks at fudge) and i don't think the fudge will live much longer... (grabs random person) HEY! stay away from my fudge! 


	3. Chp 2 Part 2

ok! wow...this is fast...well, i've got lots of chapters ta post, so these aren't gonna be very long. oooh...this is a good one...lots o' new stuff, even Einstein (jk! well, there's one part...kudos to anyone who replies with the phrase!)...and no one's gonna read this, so ON WITH THE SHOW!

Rei: mad shut up with the damn show stuff! its just an effin story!  
Me: haha, i made Rei mad!  
Ed: huh?  
Bella: (sneaks up behind us) (screams) ON WITH THE DAMN STORY ALREADY!  
Everyone else: (jumps fifty feet in the air) Bella!

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Bella glanced around the abandoned room. People were all over, covered in blood. _That blondie must have killed them…but why?_ She heard a door slam shut off in the distance, and motioned to Rei to follow her. _Hm…Angel's not complaining, just following orders. What happened to "No way am I gonna take orders from you"? Oh well…I shouldn't complain, I guess…_

They ran into a large room, and instantly saw Father Cornello standing on the raised platform. The blondie and suit of armor were there to, fighting a chimera while Cornello watched.

"Hm…to help or not to help…that is the question," Rei said.

"Well…blondie looks like he can take care of himself…" the blondie had just killed the chimera, "…so…no help." Bella looked back at Cornello. "Now, that freak has my stone, so let's get it!"

"Wait -" Rei tried to stop her, but Bella was already off. _Hm…I could let her fight alone…but then Mustang would kill me…Damn!_ She ran after Bella, who had grabbed the ring Cornello had dropped.

"Hey, girl. Give me that ring back!" Cornello was angry. VERY angry.

Bella put on the ring. "Wow, lookie at that. It's a perfect fit! I think I'm gonna keep it. See ya!" She used her teleportation to go back to where she and Rei had been watching.

_Argh…I'm gonna kill her later…but for now, why not kill him!_ Rei slapped her hands together, closing her eyes. She opened them, then raised her hands as if calling some unseen power. Rain clouds gathered in the building, raining down on Cornello and the chimera's body. _Hm…how about…THIS!_ She froze the rain, and it pelted Cornello. Meanwhile, she froze the chimera and transmuted it into a pile of wet dirt.

"Yay! Score one for Angel and me!" Bella jumped down, practically hitting Rei in the process.

"Hey! Baka! Try not to hit me next time, would ya!" Rei was not in the mood for hyper alchemists.

Bella pouted. "Wait…where's Koneko? And the stone?"

The blondie started. "What stone?"

Bella looked at him, while Rei picked up the ring. "The Philosopher's Stone, blondie. You ready, Rei?" Rei nodded, and they ran off.

The blondie got mad. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHO – wait, blondie?"

Bella and Rei ran into an alley outside the church. Koneko jumped onto Rei's shoulder, and she smiled slightly.

"Yay! Rei smiled!"

Rei glared at Bella. "Never mind…you do have the stone, right? Let me see it."

Bellathrew the ring to Rei, who quickly threw it back. "It's not the one. It's a fake, like…"

"Like what?"

"Nothing."

Bella looked at the ring and sighed. "Oh well…so where –"

"GIVE US THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE BACK!" The blondie and the suit of armor ran down the alley, looking mad.

"Bella, drop the ring." Rei had an evil glint in her eyes.

"But -"

"Bella. Drop the damn ring!"

Bella pouted. "Fine." She dropped the ring, and backed up. Rei slapped her hands together behind her back, and Bella smiled evilly. _So, she's got a plan…this should be fun!_

Rei brought her left hand forward, palm up. "Why do you seek the stone, blondie? For wealth?" false gold formed in her hand. "For riches?" the gold turned to gems "For…power?" the gems glowed and became a ball of energy.

The suit of armor was shocked. "Um…We just want it so -"

The blondie spoke up. "Give us the stone, and you won't get hurt."

"Sorry." Rei flashed an evil grin. "No can do. Ya see," she made the ball disappear "we need it too."

Bella was getting bored. She was just about to speak up when Rei continued.

"However…I suppose we could trade…"

"What do you want?"

"Hm…Bella, what do we want?"

"Well…" she pretended to look thoughtful. "How about…"

Blondie darted forward to get the ring. He looked triumphant, but… "WTF!" His hand passed right through it.

Rei grinned evilly again. She threw the ring in the air, and it landed on the ground, shattering. "Whoops…Sorry!" She and Bella ran off.

Bella was laughing like a maniac. "Did you see the look on blondie's face!"

"Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist."

"What?"

"He was the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"And how -"

"I've seen him before."

"Then -"

"The suit of armor was his brother. But I didn't feel any life coming from it, which is what confuses me."

"Feel life?"

"Didn't Mustang tell you? One reason I'm called Angel's Daughter is because I can feel if someone is alive or dead. Like an angel."

"Oh…but his brother is alive! It was talking!"

"Hm…I think I know what he did…that would make sense…" she seemed to be talking to herself, rather than Bella.

"Hey, Rei, you still awake? Where are we going next?"

"To Youswell Mining Town."


	4. Chp 3 Part 1

Heya! here's the firs' par' o' cha'er 3, k? i don' gots par' two yet (glares at email) cause they didn't send it...somehow i do have part one of cha'er 4, though...odd...oh well, i'll gets ye the next bit soon! its really funny (laughs head off)

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**

"Hmmm? I wonder if we'll ever see blondie again" Bella said as she kicked a pebble on the ground. She and Rei had just gotten off the train at Youswell Coal Mines.

"He was kinda hot." Bella thought out loud. She clasped her hands over her mouth.

"Holy shit! That was supposed to stay inside my head!"

Rei hit her on the head.

"Baka! This is no time to be thinking about boys!" She said in a forceful, yet calm voice. "If you want the stone so badly, you must stop getting distracted and FOCUS!"

"Whatever…." Bella said. She put her hands behind her head as they continued to walk closer to the little inn. They needed somewhere to stay, and this was the only available place for miles. Bella opened the door to the inn.

"Uh… excuse me? We need a place to stay?" she said. All the people inside looked at her. Bella leaned over to Rei.

"Did I say something wrong?" she whispered.

_A Few minutes later_

"Tw-two-two thou-thou-sand-sand dollars?" Bella stuttered. She was quite shocked at how much the owner was charging for a night's stay and food. Rei opened her mouth to say something, but it seemed Bella snapped.

"HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH CHARGING PEOPLE THAT MUCH!" she yelled.

"We don't get much business here. You are our first customers." Said a young boy, whose name was Khayal. "Plus, the prices are the same everywhere else."

Rei pulled Bella away from the crowd to talk.

"How are we gonna pay for this! We don't have the money!" Rei hissed.

"Hmm? Well, let's just go and transmuted some rocks into gold." Bella said.

"That's against the rules!" Rei said.

"So." Bella shrugged "Not like it's ever stopped me before."

"Fine… We'll do it" _Thanks a lot Mustang! Giving me a partner who's downright evil! And she's actually fine with it! No guilt at all!_

"Plus, I think I can get us a discount" Bella smirked.

"How?" asked Rei.

"Just watch and learn the ways of the Devil." Said Bella. She grinned evilly to herself.

"Hey uh mister owner dude!" Bella said to the owner. "I see that your coal pick is broken? Would you like me to fix it for you?"

"How are you going to do that? You don't have any tools." Said the owner.

Bella picked up the two pieces to the pick and laid them down on the table. Everyone looked at her as she drew a transmutation circle. She clapped her hands together and touched the pick. There was a big smoke cloud, and when it cleared, there lied the pick, good as new. Bella got on top of the table.

"Behold! MY AWSOME, AWSOMENESS!" she shouted. Rei rolled her eyes at her immature partner.

"Wow. Our first customers are alchemists!"

"This rocks!"

_Later_

Bella and Rei were sitting at the table. Bella looked at the plate of food being handed to her and smiled. Rei was quietly petting Koneko as her plate of food was placed in front of her. Bella was about to start eating her food when Khayal came running inside the inn.

"We have more customers!" he shouted. Rei and Bella looked up to see it was the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother. Bella shot up from her seat.

"Dude! Why the hell are you stalking us!" Bella yelled.

Ed looked at surprised.

"You're those girls from Lior!"

"Yes, I think we all know that stalker." Bella said.

"I am not a stalker!" Ed yelled

"Sure you aren't Fullmetal…."

"Hey? How do you know who I am?"

Bella smirked. _Oh no… She's getting a bad idea……_thought Rei.

"Because, I can read minds!" Bella shouted! "And right now, you are thinking: _Oh god, is that brunette hot or what!_" Bella started laughing as Ed started to blush. _Hmmmm? Maybe Bella isn't joking, because now Fullmetal is blushing. Maybe she really can read minds……_Rei thought as she looked at Bella. Bella stopped laughing and looked at Ed.

"What? Was that what you were really thinking? Because I was just joking around." She said. Ed blushed even more

"No! It's just umm……." he stopped.

Bella jumped up in the air

"Yay! The Fullmetal Alchemist thinks I'm hot!" she shouted.

"Hey! I do not think you're hot!" Ed yelled.

Bella grinned. _Ooh! I have an idea! _

"Oh my gosh! Soon I'll be dating the great Fullmetal, then we'll get married, then we'll have kids, then-" she stopped and literally fell on the ground laughing.

Rei rolled her eyes again as Bella kept laughing and Edward screaming at her that none of that would ever happen.

"NONE OF THAT IS TRUE! I DON'T THINK YOU'RE HOT AT ALL! YOU ARE JUST ANNOYING!" Ed yelled

Bella stopped laughing and looked up at Ed with a sad face.

"You mean we aren't going to a tropical island for our honeymoon?" Bella looked as though she was gonna cry, but then her face lit up.

"Oh well, I have better chances with the Colonel anyways." She was laughing like a maniac. Rei sighed and grabbed a glass of water that was sitting on the table and drenched Bella with it. She gave a sly smile as Bella shot up and started screaming at her.

"That shut her up" Ed said.

"SHUT UP FULLMETAL!" Bella yelled. Rei hit her on the head with the empty glass, making it shatter.

"Shut the hell up Wings." Bella glared at Rei.

"Do….not call me……… by my…….. last name……" Bella said.

"Wait-" the manager said as he pointed to Ed, "You're the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"Dude, what have I been screaming for the past five minutes?" Bella said.

The other coal miners grabbed Ed and his brother and literally threw them out. Bella raced towards the door.

"That's what you get for messing with the Devil's Angel Alchemist!" She yelled and started laughing. She gasped as someone grabbed her by her arms and threw her out as well. Bella fell in head-first into the dirt. Rei decided not to be thrown out and walked outside.

"Hahahahaha! Looks like the Devil's Angel got kicked out too!" Ed yelled laughing his head off. Bella shot up and started chasing Ed around the outside of the inn.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bella screamed in frustration. "GET BACK HERE YOU ASSHOLE! LEMME BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!"

Rei turned to the coal miners.

"We don't serve dogs of the military" the owner said, as if he was reading her mind. As they were walking back Ed's brother yelled.

"Ummm….. I'm a civilian! I'm not a "state" anything!" he said.

"Oh, then come on in!" the coal miners said.

"Al! You traitor! How can you be leaving me with the psycho girl?" Ed yelled.

"Who are you calling a psycho!" Bella screamed, still chasing Ed around. She looked like she was about to kill him. Al and the rest of the coal miners went back inside the inn. After about thirty minutes, Bella was very tired from chasing Ed around and she collapsed on the ground.

"I hate you Fullmetal……" she said.

"Bella…. Instead of trying to beat the crap out of Fullmetal, you could have used your dematerialization to grab us some food from the inn." Rei said.

Bella's stomach growled as she sighed.

"And you tell me this now, why?" She asked, still lying on the ground. "I'm too tired so I won't be able to anyways….. I think I'm gonna eat my glove." She said. She pulled off her right glove and stuck it in her mouth.

"Mmmmm………. Tasty……" she said sarcastically with a hint of boredom.

* * *

MWAHAHAHA! i love seeing Bella chase Ed...its so amusing, especially when she's screaming at the top of her lungs...hehe...

well, since no one's responded to my previous question (glares), i'm gonna start a new one...and it is...

...which pair do you think is best? (choose one from 1 and one from 2)

1a) EdxBella

1b) EdxRei

2a) AlxBella

2b) AlxRei

so HAPPY WEEKEND TO ALL YA PEOPLE! and r&r, plz!


	5. Chp 3 Part 2

heya! i gots part two o' chapter 3, so heres it is!

* * *

Ed and Rei looked at her confused. Everyone turned when they saw Al come out of the inn with plates of food. Bella shot up.

"Food!" She yelled as she pointed to the plates of food.

"Oh Brother! Thank you! " Ed said as he ran up to Al and hugged him.

"You are so predictable…." Al sighed. Bella ran up to Al as well and hugged him.

"Oh! Thank you Mr. Edward Elric's brother!" she said.

"His name is Alphonse, baka." Rei said. Bella looked at her.

"Oh…. Ok, Mind if I call ya Al?" Bella asked as she looked up at Al.

"Ummm…….. ok…" he said.

Bella and Rei had walked over to one of the tracks for the carts and sat down there to eat.

"Brother, do you really like that girl?" asked Al. Ed gave Al a threatening look.

"Come on Ed. It's kinda obvious." Ed sighed.

"Fine ya got me." He said. "She's just so pretty. So is her friend." He sighed.

"Yeah, they are." Al said.

"Hey Rei? What do you think of Fullmetal?" asked Bella. Rei ignored her.

"Fine." She stood up as she heard someone yelling from the inn.

"Out of the way you scum."

"Let's see what's happening" Rei said as she got up, Koneko in her arms.

Bella and Rei walked inside the inn to see some people from the military inside. _What's the military doing here?_ Thought Bella. She looked at the guard that was about to attack Khayal. She instantly grabbed the sword before it hit Khayal.

"It's not nice to hit kids you jerk!" She said as she threw the sword at the main guy, but missed on purpose so it would hit the wall right next to his face.

"Who are you brats?" said the main guy.

"We are state alchemists." Rei said. "I am the Angel's Daughter alchemist, and my partner is the Devil's Angel Alchemist."

"Just call us the Demon and Angel Alchemists!" Bella said. Rei gave her a death glare.

"And when did you come up with that name, baka?" she asked. Bella smiled.

"Just now!" she said cheerfully.

"You brats can't be state alchemists!" said one of the guards.

"Oh yes we can!" said Bella as she pulled out her pocket watch. She kept it in her jacket pocket. Rei pulled out hers from her sash.

"And don't call us brats." Bella said. She turned to the door as it opened to see Edward and Alphonse.

"What's going on here?" asked Ed.

"Fullmetal! How nice of you to join us!" Bella said cheerfully. "Hey dude. I wanna introduce you to my boyfriend!" B ella said, pointing to Ed.

"WTF! I'M NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND!" Ed said. Bella did a fake pout.

"Dangit. And I was so hoping to marry the Fullmetal Alchemist….." she said.

"But Bella, I thought you were with the Colonel." Rei smirked. Bella glared at her.

"I hate you……" she said. Rei smiled at her little joke. Bella kept on glaring.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist? That shrimp?" asked one of the guards. Ed snapped.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP! DO I LOOK EDIBLE TO YOU!" Ed screamed as Al held him back from attacking anyone.

"Dude, Ed. Don't need to get all worked up over a little comment." Bella said. "I'm short too, but you don't see me complaining."

"That's because you're taller than me……" Ed growled.

"Oh yeah! That's right!" Bella said, trying to piss off Ed.

"Excuse me," said the main guy. "I'm sorry if any of subordinates were, impolite. My name is Yoki. And I am in charge of this town." He said. "There's no need for state alchemists as great as yourselves stay in a pig-pen like this. Even though we are far from the city, there are some **lovely** rooms at my house."

"Well I guess it would be alright, since the owner is too **cheap** to let us stay!" Bella said as the owner glared at her.

"Come on Fullmetal. We're offered a free night's stay, and you are just standing there!" Bella said. "Come on!" She pulled on his arm, and followed Rei and Yoki out.

Bella gasped in excitement as a plate of fancy food was placed before her. Rei rolled her eyes.

"Please excuse my partner's childishness." She said.

"Rei, lighten up. Being mature is over rated." Bella said after she swallowed. "Plus, if you had a childhood like mine, you would love to be immature."

"What happened?" Ed asked. Bella looked down at the table.

"Uh…. I rather not talk about it." She said as she looked away. This was the first time Rei had actually seen Bella sad. She couldn't quite get why though. Bella had told her, her past. Was there something she didn't want her to know?

"I see you three are enjoying the food" Yoki said.

"Yup…." Bella said quietly. She wasn't in her cheerful mood anymore. _I wish I could tell Rei about it, but I just can't. I'll become a wanted girl by all of the military. _She thought. _And I can't defiantly let Fullmetal know. He's a famous alchemist. Once he found out, everyone would know. Gah! Damn my brother. If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him! _

"Umm… I'm getting tired." Bella said as an excuse. "Let's hit the hay." She stood up and walk to the hallway. Rei and Ed followed, and they were escorted to their rooms.

"Burn it down." Rei looked behind her as she heard someone say that. _What could he be talking about?_ She gave Yoki a threatening look, before they turned the corner.

_The Next Morning_

"HOLY SHIT!" Bella said. She, Rei and Ed had come back from Yoki's to get Al and found that the whole inn was burned to the ground. She muttered to herself.

"Damn fires, always ruining people's lives….." Rei looked towards her, and saw a hint of pain in her eyes. _What! Don't feel sorry for her! _Rei thought.

Bella walked up to Khayal, who was sitting on the ground. She sat down next to him and sighed.

"I knew something was suspicious about that lousy piece of scum." She said. She stood up. "God damnit! I'll make him pay for this!" Bella shouted.

"Bella, you'll get arrested if you try to beat him to death." Rei said, emotionless.

"Fine... but I want to do something REALLY BAD to make him pay….." she said.

"Hey Miss?" asked Khayal. Bella looked at him in a somewhat threatening way, but let it drop. "You're good enough to make gold right? Could you whip us up some?" he asked.

"Great idea!" Bella said. She started to walk off towards some rocks when Ed grabbed ahold of the hood to her jacket and Bella came crashing down.

"Hey! What was that for!" Bella yelled.

"One, payback, two, it's not worth just being used so they can get by." He said. "It'll just go in as taxes, and there'll be none left after that."

"Awwwwwwww man!" Bella said. "This sucks major ass….. Wait- I think I may have an idea….. A slightly evil one to be exact." Bella was laughing like a maniac, until Rei dropped a rock on her head. "STOP IT WITH THE HEAD HURTING! You are damaging my brain you know!" Bella yelled.

"You're right. I should stop since your brain was already damaged when we first met." Rei said.

"You are sooooooooooo, gonna pay for that, Angel." Bella said. Bella raced off towards one of the carts as Al, Rei and Ed chased after her.

"Hey! Wait! What are you doing!" Ed shouted. They stopped when they reached a cart of culm.

(Remember dumb morons, culm is coal mine waste, including fine coal, dust and dirt. So now, ON WITH THE STORY!(trips on lawn duck) WTF! HOW'D THIS GET HERE! (glances towards Kore who is now sleeping) HE BROUGHT A LAWN DUCK WITH HIM!)

Bella climbed in. "Ahhhhhhcccccccoooooooooo!" She sneezed as the dust went everywhere when she got inside. "Stupid dust."

"Bella, what are you doing?" Rei asked. She had a bad feeling about what Bella was doing. Bella stood up on top and clapped her hands. She placed her hands on the culm, and changed it into gold. She jumped down when she was done.

"Now, let's get this to Yoki's for the rest of my plan." She said.

"OMFG!" Bella smirked as Yoki said this.

"Is it really real gold?" asked one of his subordinates. Bella smiled at Yoki. Rei looked up at her deep blue eyes. They seemed to have a hint of mischief in them.

"Is it not enough?" Bella asked, in an innocent tone.  
"No, no!" Yoki said. "It's just perfect." Bella smiled again.

"Well, since you know that making gold is illegal, it wouldn't be any trouble if you could write, the ownerships papers were peacefully transferred," she smiled her oh-so-famous smile, that Rei could guess that Bella was pleased with this little "game" as she called it. "Free of charge." Bella finished.

"Oh! Yes! Let's fill them out right now!" Yoki said. "My, my, Miss Alchemist you are the sly one, aren't you?" Yoki said, shaking Bella's hand. Bella tried to hide her anger from the "Miss" part, and smiled.

"Oh no. I'm nothing compared to you, Mr. Yoki." She said, doing a little fake giggle. _Dang. She's good at faking stuff._ Rei thought.

Bella kicked the doors open to the small house that all the coal miners were staying in.

"Hello everyone!" she said in a cheerful voice. "My, what gloomy faces. You seem happy today!" She smiled. She was holding a small box with the ownership papers in her left hand. Everyone glared at her as she smiled at them.

"What are you doing here!" yelled one of the coalminers.

"Ah, ah. You shouldn't be talking to the new owners of this joint like that." Bella said in a matter-of-fact-way.

"What the-"

"BA-BAM!" Bella said as she quickly pulled the papers out and but them in their faces.

"It says, the coalmines have been handed over to, REIAN, THE ANGEL'S DAUGHTER ALCHEMIST AND BELLA WINGS THE DEVIL'S ANGEL ALCHEMIST!" yelled the coalminers. Rei winced at the mention of her state alchemist name. Bella gave her a confused look. _What's wrong with her? She did this last time her alchemist name was mentioned. Does she dislike it? _She thought. Bella broke away from her thoughts.

"Yup. We own this place now! And, we're willing to sell it for-" she stopped and smirked as she looked towards Khayal's dad, "a reasonable price." He sighed.

"Ok, what price." He asked.

"How 'bout one night's stay for four at your place?" Bella said.

"Four?"

"Yeah, for those guys over there too!" Bella pointed towards Ed and Al. As she pointed towards them, Yoki and his subordinates rushed through the doors.

"Miss Alchemist!" Yoki said.

"Stop calling me Miss, dumbass" Bella muttered under her breath. "Hi Mr. Yoki! I just sold the right to the mines to this fellow right here!" she said, gesturing to Khayal's father.

"WHAT!" Yoki said. Then he pointed to the rocks in his hands. "I came here because the gold you gave me has turned into rocks." He said. Rei leaned over to Bella.

"When did you change it back?" she whispered.

"Hehe. Right after we left" Bella whispered back. "I don't remember anything about gold." Bella said to Yoki.

"Please, don't act dumb. We traded the ownership papers for the gold." He said.

"But the ownership papers said the documents were transferred, "free of charge" She said. _She's enjoying this WAY too much_ Rei thought. Yoki was furious.

"This deal is null and void!" Yoki said. He gestured to his men. "You two. Take those documents from them now!" he yelled. The coalminers got up behind him, and cracked their knuckles.

"I wouldn't be messin' with the little Missy, if I were you." One of them said. The coalminers then punched the subordinates and the fell to the floor.

"Oh, and Mr. Yoki" Rei started. "I'll be sure to tell the higher ups about your **corruption **and **incompetence **too." Yoki sulked to the floor, ashamed.

"ALL RIGHT!' yelled one of the coalminers.

"BRING OUT THE BOOZE!" yelled another.

"AHHHHHHHHH! DON'T GIVE ALCOHAL TO MINERS YOU HALF-WIT PEOPLE!" Bella yelled as everyone was pouring bottles of booze on Bella's, Rei's and Ed's heads.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Bella yelled. She was lying on the floor next to Ed. Everyone was stuffed from the feast and a "little" bit drunk.

"I'M ON A ROLLERCOASTER!" she yelled out! "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Ed looked at her.

"What's a roller coaster?" he asked, kinda dazed.

Bella shrugged. "How should I know?"

Rei walked up to them and shook her head in shame. "You two got drunk, didn't you?" she asked.

"I don't know." Ed said, "What's drunked?"

"Bakas……….." Rei sighed.

_The Next Morning_

"We'll see ya later!" Bella shouted as she waved to the coalminers. She was defiantly in a good mood. Rei turned her head as she saw Ed and Al walk up to the two of them.

"Hello, Fullmetal." Rei said.

"Hey! Edo!" Bella said. _What is up with her and weird nicknames? _Rei thought.

"Hello." Al said in his adorable little kid voice.

"Hi. Uhhhhhhhh……… Me and Al wanted to know if….." Ed started as he blushed a little.

"Brother and I wanted to know if you two would like to join us to search for the Philosopher's Stone." Al said for Ed. Bella looked at Ed's golden eyes with a slightly confused look. _Gosh Dangit! His eyes are just too convincing! _Bella thought. _But they are beautiful. Agh! What are you thinking! You can't fall in love again! You can't let it happen again. Not ever……….._

"Bella? Are you blushing?" Rei asked. Bella broke out of her trance and looked at Rei.

"What! Me! Never!" she said, defending herself.

"Whatever……" Rei said.

"Alright, Ed. We'll join you little party." Bella said. "As long as you don't mind our little friend coming along!" Bella said

"What-" Ed started as Bella picked up a black and white cat that was purring by Rei's feet.

"This is ASHER!" Bella said cheerfully.

"His name is Koneko." Rei said

"No, it's Asher." Bella said

"Koneko"

"Asher!"

"Koneko"

"Asher!"

"Koneko"

"UGH! Fine…….. have it your way……" Bella sighed. Al gasped in excitement.

"Oh! A cat!" he said.

"You like cats too?" Bella asked. Al nodded.

"Well, Al. You and me are gonna be bestest of friends! I love cats!" She said.

"Let's head for the next town already." Rei said as she picked up Koneko and walked towards the station. Ed and Al followed her. Bella walked behind them, with a thoughtful look on her face.

_Get a grip Bella. You can't be liking Ed. You'll just end up like last time, torn and heartbroken. Plus, why would he want to like some Ishbal girl. He probably hates them. _She sighed._ I'm an outcast everywhere…………………_


	6. Chp 4 Part 1

k, here's chapter 4...and part 2 hasn't been released to the public yet...jk! she (Kira) hasn't written it...i need to go back so you know who wrote which ones...

* * *

Rei and Bella sighed. They had been on the train for _hours_, and were eager to get off. Rei, who was petting Koneko, looked at Ed, who had fallen asleep with his head on Bella's shoulder. _Hmm…at least some of us are getting some rest…_she thought. Turning back to Bella, she noticed that the girl had fallen asleep with her head on Ed's. _Aww…they look so cute together, _she thought just before drifting off.

Much later, Rei felt Koneko stiffen in her lap and hiss.

Without moving, Rei whispered "What is it, little one?" She saw a group of bandits who had taken over the train. The one closest to them was obviously annoyed by Rei's sleeping companions.

"…how can these brats sleep through all of this?" he muttered, glaring at Bella, Ed, and Rei, who he hadn't seen wake up. "Hey!" he poked Ed. "Wake up!" Ed just snored. "Why you…Act more like a hostage, you little runts!"

Ed leapt up, awakening Bella. "Huh?" she said sleepily, rubbing her eyes. Rei thought they looked red for a moment, but dismissed it when it vanished.

"What? You got a problem or something? Huh?" the bandit shoved his gun in Ed's face.

Ed slapped his hands together over the barrel, transmuting it into a musical horn.

"What the hell is this?" the bandit shouted, just before Ed's foot made contact with his face. The passengers all stared, and Bella, Rei, and Al all sighed.

"That was dumb, kid." another bandit aimed his gun at Ed's head. "We were ordered to kill all resisters. I don't want to kill a runt like you, but…"

Al interfered. "Okay, okay. The two of you should just calm down."

"What! You want to fight us…" the bandit trailed off as Ed's knee collided with his face. "…too?"

Ed started raging. "YOU CALL ME A RUNT? A DWARF? A "LITTLE PERSON"?"

Bella screamed. "Ed! If you don't stop, you're gonna kill him!" Ed just kept hitting the bandit.

Rei had noticed that there was a metal pole nearby, conveniently loose. She grabbed it, and whacked Ed on the head.

"What the hell was that for?" Ed glared at her. She just glared back, until Ed came to his senses and realized he was still holding the bandit. "So, um…who _are_ these guys?"

Al, Bella, and Rei sighed. _So he was just subconsciously reacting to the word "runt"…

* * *

hehehe...k, its short, but...oh, never mind, i can't remember what i was going to say...oh yeah, the __real_ authors(well, one told me) werejoking about how they'd have instant fame and all that crap if they posted it here...needless to say, there is very little truth in that...and i'm still waiting for answers! in case you forgot:

1a) EdxBella

1b) EdxRei

2a) AlxBella

2b) AlxRei

choose one from each number...(yawns) i have to stop staying up late...


	7. Chp 4 Part 2

k, one person reviewed so...they get FUDGE! hands fudge to beautifly92 THANK YOU!

so, to reply to that, me friends (Kira and Ember, don't forget!) say this:

Ember: LOL! tell them it's both! it's EdxBella and EdxRei and BellaxEnvy and AlxRei! cuz that is what it is! lol! that's funny!(then she said this) wait tell them this:Ed and Bella like each other. Ed likes Rei too, Rei likes Ed, Envy likes Bella, Bella hates Envy. and Al likes Rei. that's what it is!

Kira: hehe...score one for Rei! (puts a tally under Rei's name on imaginary scoreboard) hehe...oh, if you're looking at Ember's confusing love diamond (points up) its not that complicated...well, if you can actually look at it...

ok, on with the story!

_

* * *

_

_A while later…_

"Besides us, there are two more in the engine room and four more in the first-class car guarding the general," a beat-up bandit said. "There are four in the coach car standing guard in different locations."

_Hmm…so General Hakuro really is here…_Rei thought.

Bella, being Bella, smiled innocently. "And the rest?" she asked, raising her fist.

"Th-that's it! Really! There's no more!" he stuttered.

"There's still ten more of them!" one passenger shouted.

"What're you going to do now? When they hear you beat up their men, they might come retaliate…!" another cried.

Al sighed. "If _somebody_ (looks at Ed) was more mature, this might have ended peacefully."

"You can't move forward if you keep regretting the past!" Ed and Bella replied.

Rei sighed. "Whatever. Ed and I will go above, and Bella and Al will take them from below."

As Ed started climbing out the window, one passenger asked, "Wh…who are you guys?"

Bella grinned. "We're alchemists!" she replied.

Ed climbed out the window, immediately blown back by the wind. Rei grabbed his hand before he blew away, and he screamed "Whoa! Wind pressure, WIND PRESSURE!" like he was going to die.

_How uncool…_Rei thought.

Random Person Thoughts: _I have a bad feeling about this…_

Finally, Ed climbed onto the roof, and helped Rei up. "Well then," he said as they began to sprint towards the front. "Why don't we give it a shot!"

It took them a while to figure out how to run without Rei, being lightweight, getting blown back from the wind. Eventually, close to the front, someone inside the car started firing up at them. "Whoa, that was too close!" Ed said as they jumped onto a platform. He pulled off his left shoe, where a bullet had hit. He looked up to see Rei pushing up her right sleeve and yank a bullet from the elbow joint. "You've got automail too?" he asked, surprised.

Rei nodded, then stood up. "My right arm and left leg, same as you." Ed just blinked, and finally Rei sighed. "We should take the engine room first," she grinned, "and I've got a plan."

They jumped to the engine car, where Rei leaned over and threw one of the bullets in. Ed watched as she knocked out one of the bandits and the train workers hit the other. He followed Rei out the other window, and the driver asked if there was anything he could do to help.

"Just drive safely, please!" he replied, then climbed up the ladder after Rei.

A bandit looked out of a window, shooting at Rei, but she dodged. Ed, in a moment of insanity (well…maybe not insanity, cause he always does stuff like this…), transmuted a cannon on the top of the train, shooting the bandit. "It's not nice to shoot at girls!" he shouted.

"Hey! What are you doing to the tender car! That's got the water and coal for the whole train!" the driver shouted (ahh…lots and lots of shouting…)

"Oh! Sorry!" Ed replied as Rei grinned again. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

She nodded. "Time to wash out the bandits!"

_Meanwhile…_

Bella and Al had taken out most of the bandits, and only had one car left. Bella, seeing another bandit, hid behind Al, listening as he warned them of the ricochet and they, like the idiots they were, fired and got hit.

"Ha ha!" she celebrated. "Take that, you piece of shit! Whoa!" she tripped.

"Hey, look out!" Al caught her before she fell. "You should be more careful!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Bella grinned. "Well, let's go. We don't want to keep them waiting!"

_Back to Ed and Rei…_

Ed had transmuted a pipe and flooded the car, then he and Rei ran inside.

"Whoa!" Bella jumped aside as the water rushed past, carrying bandits. Al opened the door, and they continued down the train. She looked up, and glared at Ed. "You two are a bit late, you know…" she said.

Ed raised his hands in defense. "Well, we were taking care of the engine room! And besides," he grinned, "you two had the short way!"

"Look out!" Al cried as Bald (the bandit leader dude) stood up.

"You're just a little brat!" he cried as he charged at Ed, who dodged. Rei came up behind the hijacker, and he span around, shooting wildly with his automail left arm. Rei dodged the bullets, and ran up, cutting off the gun. With the leader distracted, Bella walked up and slammed her fist into his head, knocking him out.

"Ya know," Rei began as she nudged the twitching body, "you didn't have to hit him so hard. I bet Mustang would have loved to do it for you."

Bella grinned evilly. "But who would've wanted to let him have all the fun?" she replied.

Rei just sighed.

"Hey. Fullmetal," some creepy dude said (Me: hehe…take that, Mustang!).

Ed and Bella glared (who would've guessed?).

"Oh, hello, Colonel," Al said. Rei just ignored everyone.

"What's with all the unhappy faces?" Colonel Roy Mustang asked. (Me: as if he didn't know, that – Rei: uh…ignore her!)

"#$...we wouldn't have helped if we knew it was in _your_ district!" Bella screamed. She seemed to be out of her mind.

"You still don't like me, huh?"

"Well, lemme think…no! Wanna ask again?" Ed replied sarcastically.

Mustang just ignored him. "What about you, Angel? Any luck?"

Rei flinched at the name, and Bella saw hatred and pain flash in her eyes. "I would suggest you find a new name, _Colonel_," she said coldly, "before I decide your life isn't worth saving."

"No good, I guess." Roy sighed, and turned to Bella. "And what about you, Miss Wings?"

Bella was saved from beating the crap out of him (Me: cause she would've killed him otherwise…good time to run…(runs away)) by a rebelling bandit.

One of Bald's cronies (well, it would be Bald, but he's kinda…uh…dead…) grabbed a knife and charged at Mustang, only to be burned when the Colonel snapped his fingers.

"I took it easy on you. If you try to resist again, I'll turn you into ask, got it?"

"Damn you…who the hell are you?"

"Roy Mustang. Rank: Colonel. And one more thing.

"I'm the "Flame Alchemist." Don't forget that."

* * *

hey, i just remembered...i never told you who wrote what! so here it is, and i'm gonna add it to the rest: 

1 - Ember

2 - Kira

3 - Ember

4 - Kira

and on and on and on...basically, the odd numbered chapters are by Ember, and the even numbered ones are by Kira, got that? ...why didn't i just say that? its so much easier...oh well, plz review! the authors (the real ones) love it!

another note from Kira:

did you notice how Rei grins a lot? that's _not_ the same as smiling! when she grins, you _definitely_ don't want to be her enemy, cause she's either got some evil plan, or she's going to just plain kick your butt, and if she smiles (which she's only done...twice, i think) she's actually happy. SO DON'T START THINKING SHE'S ALL HAPPY WHEN SHE GRINS! she's just ready to kill someone...and its gonna be you...jk! hehehe...


	8. Chp 5 Part 1

whoot whoot! we've got part one o' cha'er 5! hehe, this is gonna be good...

* * *

"You owe us for this one, Colonel." Ed smirked. He, Rei, Al, and Bella were at the Colonel's office after their battle on the train. Bella, who was looking as bored as ever, (which happens a lot) wasn't quiet listening to the conversation between the Colonel, Rei and Ed.

"Hearing you say that makes a chill run up my spine." Roy said. He sighed. "So what is it that you want?" he asked. Ed smiled.

"You sure do come right to the point!" he said cheerfully. "We need to know more about bio-alchemy." He said. "Do you know anywhere where we can get more information?" he asked. The Colonel walked over to a shelf and grabbed a file.

"Well, there's a chimera researcher here in this city," he said. "Shou Tucker. The Sewing-Life Alchemist" Rei looked up.

"Tucker? Wasn't he granted the title State Alchemist for making the first chimera that spoke human words?" Rei asked. As Roy nodded, Ed gave her a surprised look.

"A chimera! It talked! Like a human!" he said.

"A talking chimera?" Bella suddenly asked. She wasn't paying attention. She had been lost in thought about on of her past memories, and only heard the last of Ed's words.

"That's what it says here. I wasn't in charge then, so I've never seen it. It says here that the only words spoke was "I want to die" then it refused to eat and died shortly afterwards." Roy said, "Well, anyways, let's go meet him to see what kind of person he is."

As the five of them arrived at the house of Shou Tucker, Roy rang the bell.

"Damn. This is one hella of a big place." Bella said. Ed was surprised by the size of the house. He turned around when he heard something from behind him. As he did, a giant dog pounced on him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ed screamed as the dog jumped on top of him. Rei and Bella looked around to see what the problem was. They saw the Labrador retriever on top of Edward, and Ed with his face flat against the ground.

"Oh my gosh! A dog!" Bella said excited "I love animals!" She ran over to the dog and started to scratch the dog behind the ears.

"Aren't you such an adorable thing!" she said.

"Bella, can you get the dog off me?" Ed asked with a hint of anger.

"Nope. I like you better this way. You can't kill me if I mock you." Bella said, laughing a little.

"Hey Alexander! You stop that!" said a little girls' voice. Rei turned her head as she saw a young girl, and a weary old man at the door.

"Wow daddy! Lots of guests!" she said with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Nina, I thought I told you to keep the dog tied up." Said the man. At the sound of Nina's voice, Alexander immediately got off of Ed and ran over to her. He licked her face as she giggled.

"Please excuse me for the mess." Shou said as they took their seats. "It's been like this since my wife left me." He said. He smiled a pleasant smile at the five of them

"It's nice so meet you Edward, Alphonse, Rei and Bella. I'm Shou Tucker, the Sewing-Life Alchemist." He said.

"Edward here is interested in bio-alchemy," Roy said, "I told him that you might be able to show him your research."

"Hmmm? Is that so? Well, if you want to see what's up my sleeve, you must show me what's up yours. Alchemy is about "Equivalent Exchange." So, why are you interested about biological transmutation?" _Equivalent Exchange my ass._ Bella thought _I wouldn't be stuck with an automail arm if it wasn't so screwed up. _Ed gave Tucker a serious face.

"Um, well he's-" Roy started, but Ed interrupted him.

"Colonel. Mr. Tucker has the right no know." He said, taking his jacket off, revealing his automail right arm.

"So," Tucker said in astonishment, "That's why you are called the Fullmetal Alchemist. What about your friends over here?" he gestured towards Rei and Bella.

"We just tag along with him." Rei said. Tucker nodded as he got up.

"Let me show you four my laboratory. Although, I'm not sure it'll be much use to you." He said. They walked down the hall towards a room.

"This is my file room." Tucker said as he opened the door. Ed walked in, with Bella, Rei and Al following him.

"Wow! This is incredible!" Ed exclaimed. He picked up a book, and opened it.

"Feel free to look around. I'll be in the lab." Tucker said.

"All right then, I'll start with this shelf." Ed said.

"I'll start from over there." Al said, walking off towards another shelf.

"I'll go with Al." Bella said. Rei nodded as she saw Bella disappear behind the shelves of books. She grabbed a book and sat down on the ground beside Ed and began reading.

_A Couple Hours Later _

Rei looked up as the clock gonged. It was around four o' clock. (That's what the clock in the book looks like to me, so don't kill me if I'm wrong)

"Wow, didn't realize the time." Ed said. He got up and held out a hand to Rei, helping her up. As soon as she had stood up, Alexander jumped out of nowhere and tackled Ed yet again.

"GYAAAAGGH!" Ed shouted as he was tackled by the dog.

"Oh, Hey big brother." Al said with Nina on his shoulders giggling. Bella was at his side laughing.

"Heya Ed!" she said cheerfully.

"What do you mean, 'Hey big brother!" Ed said frustratingly. "You two are supposed to be researching, not baby-sitting!"

"Well, Nina wanted us to play with her so-" Al started.

"Hey big brother! Alexander says he wants you to play with him too!" Nina said as Alexander licked Ed's face. Ed took out a handkerchief to wipe of the dog drool.

"You've got a lot of nerve to ask me to play with you dog." He said, "They say that catching a mere rabbit takes every bit of a lion's strength."

"JUST TRY TO SIT ON ME YOU CAININE FIEND! I, EDWARD ELRIC, WILL FIGHT YOU WITH MY ENTIRE BODY AND SOUL!" Ed shouted as he chased Alexander. Rei rolled her eyes at her short-tempered companion. She then looked at Bella who had started cracking up. Bella started to walk off in the direction Ed had run.

"Come on Rei! Let's see if Alexander will tackle Ed again!" she said, as she gestured to Rei to follow. Rei sighed and followed her excited partner with Al following her. Just as they thought, Alexander had mauled Ed again.

"Hey Chief, I'm here to pick you up." Said Havoc as he leaned on the entrance of the doorway. Rei and Bella turned their heads as they saw 2nd Lt. Jean Havoc.

"Mind I ask what you are doing?" Havoc asked. He looked down at Ed. Alexander got off of him and walked over to Nina. Ed got up.

"Um…… well….. You can say I'm just taking a little break from my research." Ed said.

"Did you find any useful data?" Tucker asked. "You can come back tomorrow if you like." Ed nodded as he started to walk off, swaying a little.

"Are you gonna come back?" Nina asked Al and Bella.

"Uh-huh. We'll play tomorrow" Al said as Bella nodded, smiling.

"Yeah!" Bella said. She leaned down to Nina and whispered in her ear "And maybe Alexander will tackle Edo again." She said snickering. Nina smiled. Bella walked up to Rei and waved to Nina.

"So Rei, found anything interesting?" She asked.

"Well, I found lots of information about chimeras. But I'm still wondering how Tucker was able to create a chimera that talked?" Rei said.

"Hmmm? I dunno. My question is why it said "I want to die?" That's kinda scary if you think about it. A creature who desires death?"

* * *

ooooh, creepy...we've got a chimera that wanted nothing but death...

k, 'nough with the creepy stuff...we've got a new question!

...jk! i've still got two i need people to answer to!

quick reminder:

question 1: which author created each character? remember, its Ember and Kira who wrote the story, NOT ME! i could never write something this good...(cries)

question 2: which pairing is your favorite? chose one from each #:

1a EdxBella

1b EdxRei

2a AlxBella

2bAlxRei

...and i'm not making a third question till i get some answers! (looks at fudge) ...you may want to answer quick...


	9. Chp 5 Part 2

heya peoples! i'm not gonna say much...so on with the story! after these messages (i always wanted to say that...) :

Memo:  
Hey all you readers! Ember here. I'd like to say I'm so happy I finally was able to finish this chapter! (sorry, I got grounded) And I made some editing to some of the language here :glares at Ed and his colorful language: So if it's not exact, BLAME ED! Also, I'm somewhat happy this has a little violence in it. Battles scenes are my specialty! It's the romance I have trouble with…. :scratches head: So that is why I have hired an assistant to help me out on the romances I get stuck with! She shall be known as Bluesox!

Read and Enjoy!

Yours truly,

Ember

* * *

_The Next Day at the Tucker Residence _

"So, your mom left two years ago?" Al asked Nina the next day.

"Uh-huh. Daddy said she went back to her parents' house." Nina replied. Bella looked up from her book as she heard this.

"Really? You must be kinda lonely living in such a big house." She said. Nina smiled as she hugged Alexander.

"No I'm not. Daddy's nice to me and I've got Alexander too!" Nina paused, as she started to scratch Alexander's head.

"But lately Daddy's always in his laboratory with the door locked. So it's a _little_ lonely." Everyone was silent for a few moments, until Ed closed his book.

"Ah man. All this reading is making my shoulders cramp, day after, day….." Ed said, getting up.

"Maybe you should go and run outside. Exercise is the cure for cramped shoulders" Rei said as she closed her book. Ed nodded in agreement and pointed at Alexander.

"Hey dog! I'll play with your for exercise!" he shouted. He walked outside with Rei and Al following him. Bella turned to Nina and held out her hand.

"Come on Nina, you too." She said. As they had gotten outside Ed was being chased by Alexander yet again. Bella laughed as he ran past her. As he was running past Rei, he accidentally tripped on her foot. Alexander saw his opportunity and pounced, causing Ed to fall on top of Rei. Al and Bella stared in disbelief.

"Oh………… my…………… god……….." Bella said, surprised. _This isn't going to be good…….._ thought Al. (Note: This next scene was written by All- Bella: hey! I thought we were calling her Bluesox! Me: oh yes, anyways, Bluesox wrote this next scene for me since she kicks ass at romance! So uh, you can kill her if you disagree with it. EdxBella and EdxRei forever! Bella: You can't be both! Me: oh yes I can! Especially the other person you're hooked up with Bella :smiles evilly: Bella: Mention his name, and you're dead meat. Me: ok, not mentioning……….)

"Hehe, I'd knew you'd make your move on her someday Ed!" Bella laughed. Ed and Rei got up, giving her death glares. Ed confronted her.

"I wasn't!" Ed yelled, as his face turned red. _But I'd make a move on you any day_ he thought.

Bella was laughing her ass off, not noticing Alexander running up behind her.

"Bella look out!" Al yelled. Bella shrieked as Alexander ambushed her. Alexander landed on her with a heavy thud and suddenly she found herself extremely close to Ed's face. _I could get used to this _Bella thought. (Dude: NO! YOU'RE GONNA MAKE THEM DO SOMETHING AREN'T YOU! Me: You'll see snickers evilly)

"Oh yeah. Who was _I_ making a move on?" Ed said, smirking at Bella.

"Oh haha, funny," Bella said sarcastically. They both laughed and Bella realized that she wasn't off of him, but decided that she wasn't about to _force _Alexander off of her. The two of them stopped laughing and looked into each other eyes. Bella wanted so badly to brush her lips against his, even for one second. It seemed for a moment that he too felt the same way. But just as Bella decided to take a chance, Alexander got off and Rei's voice flooded her ears.

"Bella, gonna get off any time soon?" she asked her. Bella got off of Ed and looked around sheepishly, before giving Rei a glare from hell.

Rei's POV:

You looked at Bella and Ed; with Bella on top of Ed and felt a tinge of jealousy, but swore never to let it show. Bella could never know you felt anything more than friendship with Ed. She would annoy you even more…if it was possible.

But then you looked on the positive side (which was rare) and grinned. _You _would never, ever, not in a million years let Bella forget this.

"Bella, gonna get off Ed anytime soon?" you asked. She looked around embarrassed, and when she thought no else was looking, shot you a harsh glare. _So, Bella **still** has a thing for Ed? She made it seem like she was waaayyy over him. I cannot let them be together. If I'm lucky, I'll get to interrupt 'on accident' a little more. Well, that won't work forever…I guess I'll just have to beat her to him… _

Back to third person! YAY!

A smile quickly appeared on Bella's face, obviously trying to hide embarrassment. "Uh, I see Havoc, let's go" she said quickly and walked in the direction Havoc was in. Her expression quickly flashed with a mix on disappointment and anger. _Damnit! I was so close…………_She thought.

_Yet again, the next day……_(I'm doing this from memory since someone's borrowing Vol. 2, and I don't feel like looking for it online)

Ed looked up at the cloudy sky as the stood at the door of the Tucker residence. The sun was being blocked by the clouds, casting a large shadow upon the ground. (Me: very depressing mood, eh?)

"It's gonna rain soon" He said, looking towards Rei, who still had an emotionless expression on her face.

"I hate the rain….." Bella said simply as she looked up at the sky. Ed swore he saw her eyes flash a dark red for a moment, but when he blinked, they were the deep blue they had always been. He looked over at Al who had rung the bell, but nobody answered.

"Hmm? That's strange" Rei said, as she walked up towards the door and opened it. They followed her inside, somewhat suspicious. Nina hadn't come running towards them to greet them with a smile and Alexander hadn't pounced on Ed. As they were walking down the hallway, Rei noticed a door slightly opened and saw Shou's face.

"Ah, Mr. Tucker." She said as she walked into the room with Al, Ed and Bella following her. Tucker turned in their direction.

"Oh. Look what I've created." He said standing up and gesturing towards the figure in front of him "A chimera that talks like a human." The young alchemists looked towards the creature that sat before them. Tucker leaned down and talked to the chimera.

"See these people?" he said pointing towards the lot of them, "These are Edward, Reian and Bella."

"Ed-ward……. Rei-an….." it said, "Bel-la……"

"Very good" Tucker patted his creation on it's head.

"Ver-ry good?" Ed stepped forward and leaned down to take a closer look at the chimera. It repeated their names as it wagged it's tail, happily. _Where are Nina and Alexander? This isn't right at all. _Bella pondered. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the chimera say something Tucker had not taught it.

"Big bro-ther……."

Suddenly, everything made sense. Why Nina and Alexander were no where to be found. Why Tucker's wife had left him two years ago. How the chimera could talk. It all made sense…………

"Mr. Tucker? When was it that you got your license for making the first chimera that spoke human words?" asked Ed.

"That was two years ago"

"And when did your wife leave you?"

"That was two years ago too……."

"Can I ask you one more question." Ed looked up, "What happened to Nina and Alexander?"

"I hate perceptive brats like you" Ed grabbed Tucker by the collar of his shirt and threw him to the wall.

"Ed!" Al and Bella yelled.

"So that's what happened! You son of a bitch! How dare you, you bastard!" Ed yelled in his face. "Two years ago it was your wife, and now you've transmuted a chimera out of your own daughter and dog!" Rei, Bella and Al looked towards the chimera as Ed continued to yell at Tucker.

"Yeah, you can only do so much with animal experimentation. So it would be a piece of cake if you used humans right!" Ed shouted. A hint a pain flashed in his eyes.

"Why are you so mad?" Tucker simply stated. "Haven't the advances mankind has made come from the results of countless experiments on human beings, to use medical science as an example? As a scientist you-" Ed interrupted him. "No frickin' way! Do you think you're going to be forgiven for doing something like this! For…. toying with human lives!" he spat out, anger and hatred dripping from his words. Tucker smiled insanely at him (Damn you Tucker! That's what I do you copycat!)

"Human lives!" he laughed insanely. "Yes! Human lives! Fullmetal Alchemist, take a look at your limbs and your little brother!" Ed was enraged. He punched Tucker hard in the face, causing his glasses to break and fall off. Blood dripped from his mouth.

"Aren't those the results of your so called 'toying with humans lives'? We're the same, you and I!" Ed faced him.

"You're wrong!" Ed shouted in his face.

"No I'm not! You saw a possibility in front of you and you just had to try it!"

"You're wrong!" Ed punched him again, causing more blood to fall from Tucker's mouth.

"and even if you knew it was banned" Tucker continued, "You couldn't stop yourself from trying it!"

"You're WRONG!" Ed shouted again. He continued to beat Tucker. "We alchemists……. would never do that……. I'd never!" He shouted as he brought his fist for the final blow, but someone grabbed his wrist. Bella had grabbed his wrist, pulled forward a little because he was stronger than her.

"Ed, you'll kill him if you hit him again." She said concerned. Ed held back tears as he turned to leave.

"Such pretty words will get you nowhere-" Tucker started. Bella turned to face him and opened her mouth to say something but Al stopped her.

"Mr. Tucker. Anymore and I'll be the one to snap." He said. They turned and walked out the door. Rei turned to Nina and bent down.

"I'm so sorry little one. We can't restore you right now, but we will find a way." She said.

The End of Chapter 5!

Extra: What Do Rei and Bella's names mean?  
Well, that's a very good question, my dear readers. Rei's name, as you can guess is Japanese. Kira told me it means actress (which seems to suit Rei) and ever since then, Rei won't stop pretending she's an actress. I don't know what her real name, Reian, means, but I'll get back to you guys on that one. Bella on the other hand, is a Latin name. Why? Well, I was going to do a Japanese name but then I realized "Hey, wouldn't it be weird for an Ishbal dudette to have a Japanese name?" So I did Latin. Her real name, Bellator, means 'warrior', hence her violent ways, and Bella means 'beautiful' hence the mesmerizing deep blue eyes and soft light brown hair. So yeah, that's 'bout it.

Bella: If you have any more questions about "With These Broken Wings" you can e-mail our sponsor at or rei. Bella! Me and Kira aren't sponsors! We're the writers!  
Bella: Not anymore! Me and Rei decided to take over for now!  
Me: No you won't :shoves her in closet:  
Bella:bangs on door: Lemme out now! I demand you let me out!  
Me:sighs in relief: You know, I actually like her this way better! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 5 and we promise to get the next chapters out sooner (unless I get grounded again)


	10. Chp 6 Part 1

wahhh! its so sad...sniff sniff ok, yeah...:thinks: i was gonna say something...oh well! here's chapter 6! (well, part of it...)

* * *

"_Mom! Mom!" little Edward shouted. "Mom, come look!"_

"_What is it, Edward?" Trisha responded._

"_Hee hee…It's a present!"_

"_Oh, for **me**? Where did you get this?"_

"_I **transmuted **it! Put it together with **alchemy**!"_

"_Y-you **did**? I guess you** do** take after your father! Thank you, Edward. You really are special. Being able to create something so wonderful…But it's too bad…_

"…_You couldn't put me back together too."_

Edward woke with a start, remembering his dream and shaking with shock. "It hurts…" he said, curling up.

"_Mom? Dad? Sis?" a young Rei shouted. All around her, the building collapsed, the wood weakened from the fire. "Mom?"_

_Far off, she heard someone speaking, but she couldn't understand what they said. "Uncle? Is that you?" she called. She followed the voice, and came to a large room._

"_Mom! Dad! Sis!" she screamed, then fell over coughing, her lungs filled with smoke. Someone picked her up, saying "It's okay, you're not gonna die. We can't let you…"_

_They set her down, by the nearby river. As the tall person walked away, his longspiked green hair swinging around, she heard him add "…You're our human sacrifice."_

Rei sat up, her heart beating. She pulled her knees up to her, her eyes sad. "Mom…Dad…" she whispered, then her eyes flashed with hate. "I'll kill you…whoever you are…" she promised the tall man who had saved her.

The man that killed her family.

_Bella winced as she clutched her left shoulder. "Brother..." she whispered as tears fell to the blood-stained floor. She looked at her shoulder, where her left arm was supposed to be. Blood poured out of her wound and fell to the ground. Her body fell to the hard ground as she slowly slipped out of consciousness. Two figures emerged from the shadows behind her. One was a beautiful woman, the other a boy with green hair that looked to be around 18. They walked up to her motionless body. The boy bent down and picked up her fragile body, brushing her light brown hair out of her face, revealing her blood-stained cheek. _

"_Now Envy, don't get too attached. She is after all one of our human sacrifices," the women said as the boy with the green hair called Envy smiled evilly. _

Bella woke up suddenly. She was breathing heavily and her heart was racing. She touched her hand to her chest, but pulled away as she felt the ice cold metal through her shirt. Soon, her breathing and heart beat slowed down to a normal pace. She looked at her sleeping partner. "I wish I could tell you and Ed the truth, Rei, but I can't. Not now, not ever..." she said before drifting back to sleep.

The next day, Bella, Ed, Rei, and Al stood in front of the Colonel's office, unsure of whether to go in. Bella and Rei turned away, and someone opened the door.

"Bella! Rei!" Lt. Hawkeye called. They span around.

"Oh, First Lieutenant Hawkeye," Ed said.

"What're you four doing here so early?" she asked.

"Uh…um…" Ed was unsure how to ask.

"We wanted to know…what's going to happen to Tucker and Nina?" Bella asked.

Hawkeye looked at them. "Tucker was scheduled to have his license revoked and then taken to Central to be put on trial…but they both died." They froze. "Or to put it more accurately, they were killed. You would have found out eventually, even if we tried to hide it, so I might as well tell you now." She started walking away.

Bella and Ed followed her. "What…why…" Ed stuttered.

"By who?" Bella shouted.

"I don't know. I'm on my way to the location right now," Hawkeye replied.

"We're coming too!" Ed shouted (lots of shouting…how fun…).

"No."

"But…why not?" Bella screamed.

Hawkeye stopped, then turned around. "It's better that you don't see," she said, then walked away.

Ed and Al sat in front of the clock tower, and Bella and Rei stood nearby, staring at the ground. Around them, the rain fell, creating a sad melody.

"Big brother?" Al asked.

"Huh? Oh…my head's just so full that I don't know what to think right now," Ed replied. "Since last night, I've been wondering what this alchemy that we trust in really is…"

"_Alchemy is the reconstruction of matter in new forms based on the knowledge of natural laws,_" Al said.

"_This world flows by obeying these laws. Death, too, is a part of that flow. Accept the flow of the world._ Our teacher really beat that into us. I thought I knew what she meant. But I didn't. That's why mom…and that's why I'm wondering what I can do about something that nobody can fix," Ed sighed. "I'm a fool. I haven't grown up at all since then," he looked up. "I thought that the rain would wash away my doubt…but all I know is that this rain on my face is starting to bug me…"

"But…I don't even have a body that can feel the rain. It's lonely inside here…it's hard. I want to get my old body back…I want to go back to being _human_. Even if that means doing the impossible and going against the flow of the world."

"…Angel?" Bella said.

Rei looked up, and Bella saw tears in her eyes. Not many…but it was the first sign of emotion she had seen on the girl's face. "We're pathetic," the young alchemist said, staring straight at the clouds, her voice emotionless. "Someone dies, and we try to bring them back, to break the river. But how," she clenched her fist, "can anything break water, or direct the wind? We try to bring back the dead," she reached to the sky, "and fail, fall to the ground, lose our wings. We play god…and this is what happens…" She looked at the ground again. "Sometimes I wonder, what the hell was I thinking that day, when I became a state alchemist? Everything I've done since then, every step I've taken…someone's always hurt, someone always ends up crying..."

Bella looked at her understandingly. "We play god, and lives are ruined. But alchemy can save lives too, Angel. It's not all bad. So don't go hurting yourself," she put her arm around the girl, "or you'll end up hurting the ones you want to protect the most." She was surprised when Rei didn't pull away, but had no time to think on it.

"Oh, there they are," a military police officer said. "Edward! Bellator! Reian!" he shouted. "Mr. Edward Elric! Miss Bellator Wings! Miss Reian…uh…" he faltered, "Miss Angel!"

Bella got mad. "Don't effing call me Miss Wings!" she screamed.

A stranger with an x-shaped scar on his forehead stopped. "Elric…Wings…Angel…?" he said.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right! We've been looking all over for you!" the officer said, oblivious to the stranger's reaction.

"Edward…Elric…Bellator…Wings…Reian…" he said.

"What is it?" Ed asked.

"Do you need us for something?" Bella continued (hehe, they're continuing each other's sentences…).

"You're to return to head quarters immediately. There's a killer on the loose in this area…"

The stranger came up behind him. "Edward Elric, Bellator Wings (Bella: HEY! stop effing calling me that!), Reian…The Fullmetal, Devil's Angel, and Angel's Daughter Alchemists!"

Bella felt her heard beating hard. The mp span around. "That scar!" he shouted, pulling out his gun.

"No!" Rei shouted. The stranger put his hand on the mp's head, blowing it up from the inside out.

Ed, Bella, and Rei froze, all thoughts of escape forgotten. _…Who **is** this guy?_ they all thought. _This is bad! Bad! **BAD!** Everything from the core of my body says to run away but my legs won't move…! Oh no…I'm gonna die!_

The clock struck 9, loud and clear, shocking them from their thoughts.

"Unh…Al, Rei, run!" Bella screamed, following Ed and running away (Ed: hey, what about me? Me: well, it didn't sound right with you in it. besides, you were already running!).

"You won't get away!" the stranger said.

"What's his problem?" Bella said. "I've never done anything to make someone _hate_ me…"

Rei snorted. "Actually, you've done that a lot, but…"

Bella glared. "What're you, my conscience? I don't deserve to die!"

"Bella! Rei! In the alley!" Ed called. They ran in, panting.

"What! He saw us go in here!" Bella shouted.

"Just watch!" Al said, drawing a transmutation circle and making a wall. "Now he can't come after us."

"Oh!" Bella sighed in relief.

"Look out," Rei said, tensing. Just then, the wall blew up, the stranger's hand held out. They all froze, then ran away as the stranger came through.

"…" the stranger put his hand on the wall, destroying it and blocking their escape.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Bella said. They turned around.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you after us?" Ed demanded.

"There are those who create…and those who destroy," the stranger responded.

"Guess we have no choice," Bella sighed, and slapped her hands together, pulling a foot long knife out of the wall. Ed followed suit, and Rei made a four foot sword. Bella raised her eyebrow, kinda disbelieving, and Rei said, "I'm a master with the sword, so don't think I'll hit you." Bella shrugged, and they charged at the stranger.

He grinned. "You're not afraid…but you're slow!" He destroyed Al's side, then knocked Ed's knife away from him and destroyed his automail.

"…" Ed fell to the side, out of the way, totally in shock. Al hit the wall, in a perfect spot to see the whole fight and his brother's fall, much to his dismay.

"Edward!" Bella screamed, turning away from the stranger.

"No, Bella! You and Angel have to run…" he said.

"_Don't be stupid!_ We're not leaving with out you!" She turned around, just in time to avoid the stranger's attacks. _Damn, he's quick…but Angel's doing fine._ Rei was, moving a bit faster than the stranger.

_Wow…he's tough…but Bella and Angel are doing fine…Angel's fast! No wonder she's called that!_ Ed, no longer in shock, watched the fight.

"This ends here!" the stranger shouted, destroying Bella's hand. Her eyes flashed red, and she stepped back, no longer able to fight. _Good luck, Angel…don't fail us now!_ she thought.

Al's eyes widened. _Is she an Ishbalan? _He thought, then turned back to the fight when he heard someone slip.

Rei dodged the stranger once more, getting annoyed. _Damn, he's almost faster than me…stupid Bella, getting hurt…ok, that's it…he's going down!_ She dodged behind the stranger, and in a burst of strength, slammed her automail shoulder into his back. He flew a bit away, and Rei faltered. Her real leg gave out, and her eyes flashed with shock. _No…not again…_she pleaded. The stranger came up to her, about to kill her, when a shot fired.

"That's enough," Mustang said (Me: damn you, you were there for a while, you:mutters rudewords:Rei: ignore that!). "That was pretty close, Angel, Miss Wings, Fullmetal. That man is suspected in the serial killings of state alchemists. And judging from what we just saw, that suspicion just became face. The murder at the Tucker estate…let me guess, that was you too?"

Bella gasped, turning to the stranger (and totally ignoring Mustang's remark...).

"This world was made perfect by God. Alchemists change the natural into the unnatural…twist things out of their true form…they sin by defacing God's creation. I am an instrument of divine judgment!"

"Makes sense. But then _why_…do you only target state alchemists when there are so many other alchemists you could kill?"

"If you insist on stopping me, I'll just eliminate you too."

"Oh, you _will_, eh?" Mustang tossed his gun to Hawkeye.

"Colonel Mustang!" she said.

"Stay out of this," he replied.

"Mustang…the state alchemist?"

"The one and only! I'm the "Flame Alchemist", Roy Mustang!"

"I never thought I'd see this…you turn from the path of god, then come to meet your judgment of your own free will…What a glorious day this is!"

"You know that I'm the Flame Alchemist, but you still want to fight me? You're a fool!"

"Colo…" Hawkeye tripped Mustang, firing at the stranger.

"What was that for!"

"You're useless on rainy days. Please stand back, Colonel."

"Oh yeah…!" Havoc said. "He can't put out sparks in this moisture…!"

* * *

mwahahaha! sry, i'm in my "evil laughing mode" right now...don't ask, i just totally made that up...oh yeah! thanx to beautifly92 and dragonslayeryumi for reviewing! (...i can't remember if i've already said that...if i have, thanx again!) and the fudge goes to...:drumroll:

dragonslayeryumi! she guessed the peoples right! congrats!

i'll try to think of another quiz/question soon...till then, happy reading! (and reviewing :) )


	11. Chp 6 Part 2

sry it's been so long! i thought i had uploaded this, and i came to load (most of) chapter 7, and it was gone...i'm sorry! don't kill me!

ok...i think i forgot to load something else, or loaded the wrong thing, so if some things don't make sense, messege me or sumthin so i know!

* * *

"Lucky for me…you came to fight me, but you can't make flames," Scar observed. "STATE ALCHEMISTS, SYMPATHIZERS, AND EVERYONE WHO TRIES TO STOP ME! I WILL DESTROY EVERYONE HERE!"

A large shadowy figure came up behind him. "Go ahead and try," it said, punching him. He dodged just in time, musing, "Hnh…another one…!"

"Mm-hmm…you dodged that…not half bad…You brazen insurrectionary! I've had enough of you." Everyone sweatdropped. "You want to destroy everyone here? Don't make me laugh! Why don't you try to beat me first?" He crashed through the debris. "I'm the "Strong Arm Alchemist"…Alex Louis Armstrong!"

_What an idiot…_Rei thought, as she stood up and walked over to where Ed knelt.

"…So many of you today…one after another…" Scar thought aloud. "But it saves me the trouble of having to search you out. This must be a gift from god!"

Bella, looking fairly annoyed with the newest obsessed alchemist, slapped her hands together and sent a wave of spikes at Scar.

"Ah! Miss Wings, don't tear up the street!" Havoc shouted.

Bella got an anime vein. "DON'T EFFING CALL ME MISS WINGS!" she screamed, unconsciously sending another wave.

"What's that you say!" Armstrong said, glancing at Havoc. "What destroys, can also create! And what creates, can also destroy! Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin!" He punched the air above him. "WE MUST TEAR DOWN IN ORDER TO BUILD!" he shouted, tearing off his shirt. "THAT IS THE GREAT LAW OF THE COSMOS!"

"…" Scar sweatdropped.

"Why did he take off his shirt?" Ed asked quietly.

"That's some really crazy alchemy…" Bella said.

" "Crazy", eh? A fellow alchemist knows the truth in what I say," Armstrong said. "Isn't that right, Scar?"

"A fellow…!" Bella gasped. "Are you saying _he's_ an alchemist, too?"

"I knew it…" Rei muttered. "There're three main steps to alchemical transmutation: _analysis_, _deconstruction_, and _reconstruction_."

"I see!" Bella announced. "He's stopping at the second stage, _deconstruction_!"

"But if he's an alchemist, then he's going against his own preaching!" Mustang said. (hehe…I love making him look stupid :evil grin:)

"Yeah…" Ed looked thoughtful.

"And why does he only go after ones with government licenses?..." Rei mused (sry, I like that word!).

Armstrong cornered Scar, and looked as if he were going to punch. At the last moment, he pulled back, and Hawkeye fired at Scar. A bullet scratched his face, breaking his sunglasses.

"Did you get him?" Mustang asked.

"One shot grazed him, that's all," Hawkeye replied. "He's fast."

Scar regained his balance, glaring at them with red eyes.

"Red eyes! And his dark skin…" Bella said thoughtfully, an odd look on her face.

"…" Mustang stood there, shocked. "He's an Ishbalan…!"

There was a brief staring match, until Scar broke the silence, saying, "Maybe there _are_ too many of you…"

"Whoa there! Don't try to run for it. You're surrounded," Mustang said, holding up a hand.

Scar ignored him, slamming his hand on the ground under him and blowing a giant hole leading to the sewers.

"AAGGGH!" everyone quickly backed up.

"Th…that maniac went into the sewers!" Bella shouted.

"Don't go after him, Havoc," Mustang said.

"You think I'm chasing _him_ down _there_!" Havoc replied, looking at Mustang as if he were crazy (which he is…).

Mustang ignored him, instead turning to Armstrong. "I'm sorry. You gave us enough time to surround him and – "

"No, no, no," Armstrong said, shaking his head. "It was all I could do to keep from being killed, much less give you more time…"

A man in military uniform looked out from behind a nearby building. "Hey, is it over?"

"Lt. Colonel Hughes…where have you been all this time?" Armstrong asked, looking annoyed.

"Hiding!" Hughes replied, giving him a thumbs-up. "If things went bad, _someone_ had to life to tell the tale!"

"You know, next time, could you consider possibly helping us?" Mustang said, looking mad.

"_Forget it_! Don't drag normal humans like me under the big top with the rest of you freaks!" Hughes turned around. "Hey! Fight's over, we've got work to do!" he gave orders to all the MP's.

"Edward!" Bella shouted, running over to Ed and Rei. "Angel-chan! Are you guys alright? Hey!"

"Bella…" Ed whispered, wiping some blood away from his mouth. "You _idiot_!" he shouted, moving as if to punch her before he remembered that his arm was broken. He sat back, shouting "Why didn't you and Angel run away when I told you to?"

Bella knelt down next to him, looking worried and mad. "We're not gonna run off without you! We couldn't just leave you here!"

"That's what I mean by stupid!"

"Why! If we ran away, you and Al might have been killed!"

"We might _not_ have been killed, too!" Ed was relieved that they were alright.

"When there's a way to survive," Rei interrupted, "and you choose death, that's what idiots do," she said calmly.

"D…don't talk that way to me!" Bella stuttered. "And why are you on his side!"

Rei ignored her, staring at Ed with emotionless eyes. "But abandoning a _friend_…that's even worse," she looked away, slightly embarrassed.

Ed looked down, and Bella had an idiotic smile on her face. "Yay!" she screamed, dancing around kinda randomly. Rei started helping Ed up, and her automail arm broke a bit at the elbow. "Ah!" Bella shouted. "Angel-chan's arm broke! It's your fault, Ed! You idiot!" she fell on the wet ground laughing, her relief at being alive making her hyper (me: not that she isn't usually hyper…and mental...Bella: hey! I heard that!)

"Heh…" Rei said, sitting next to Ed. "We're a real mess, aren't we? How uncool…"

"But we're alive," Ed said, relaxing slightly now the battle was over.

"Yeah…" Rei looked at the clouds, letting the rain wash the blood away from her cuts. Some of the MP's came up, putting jackets over her and Ed and helping Bella up. "We're alive."

_The Ishbalans are a people from the east, who believe in one god, Ishbala. Due to religious differences, they'd always been in conflict with the central government…but thirteen years ago_ (when Ed, Bella, and Rei were 2)_, when an army officer accidentally shot an Ishbalan child, the incident exploded into civil war. Riot led to riot, and soon the fires of civil war spread throughout the entire east area. After seven frustrating years _(Ed, Bella, and Rei were 9)_, the military commanders took a new tactic…**they used state alchemists in an all-out genocide campaign**. They were recruited as human weapons. It was an opportunity to test their suitability for war._

"I was one of those alchemists," Mustang said, sitting at his desk. They were back at East HQ, trying to decide what to do next. "That's why there's a certain justice that one of the last surviving Ishbalans would seek revenge."

"It's still not justice," Rei said, her eyes shut. She leaned against the wall, her forehead on the window. At first glance, she appeared asleep. "Whatever happened, he's still involving innocent people for the sake of his revenge."

"He's just candy-coating it by acting self-righteous and calling himself "an instrument of god"," Ed continued.

"We're talking about someone who hates alchemy but uses that very same power to get revenge," Hughes said. "Someone like that, who's either totally insane or doesn't care what other people think about them, is one of the most dangerous people there is. Frankly, he scares me."

"We can't care what people think about us, either," Mustang said, "because we can't afford to die yet. The next time we meet, there won't be any explanations. Because we'll kill him."

It was silent for a while, until Hughes spoke. "Okay!" he put his hands on his knees and stood up. "On that cheerful note…that's enough of this pointless conversation. So," he turned to Ed, Bella, Rei, and Al. "What are you guys going to do now?"

"Well…I want to fix Al's body, but I can't perform alchemy with just one arm…" Ed said.

"Shall I fix him for you?" Armstrong asked, flexing his muscles.

"NO THANK YOU," Al said quickly.

"I'm the only one who knows how to keep Al's soul in the armor…so anyway, first I need a new arm," he turned to Bella and Rei. "Don't you need your automail fixed, too?"

Bella nodded, but Rei shook her head. She clapped her hands together, and placed her real one on her automail arm. The metal stretched, fixing the broken joint.

Ed blinked, and Bella said, "Wow, you can fix your automail! Why didn't you say anything?"

Rei shrugged, kinda embarrassed. "It's just alchemy. The mechanic where I grew up taught me how to build it, and I learned a bit about automail from a girl I met before returning to Central. Where I had the bad luck to meet you," she muttered the last part.

"Awesome!" Bella shouted, ignoring her final comment; she knew Rei didn't mean it.

"Right…" Hawkeye looked at Ed. "But if Edward can't use alchemy, then he's just…"

"…A little brat who swears a lot," Havoc said, as Hawkeye nodded.

"An arrogant pipsqueak…" Hughes continued.

"Useless, just useless!" Mustang finished.

"Sorry, Ed…I don't know how to follow that…" Bella glanced at Ed.

"You're all picking on me!" Ed cried.

Bella grinned. "Nope," she pointed at Rei, who was staring out the window. "Angel-chan's not even paying attention!"

"Fine," Ed sighed. "I have no choice…I have to go see my mechanic."

* * *

ok! sry for such a late update...don't kill me! hides behind a pole ...shit...people keep hitting me with poles, and what do i do? turn around and hide behind my newest worst enemy!

...enough with the pointless chatter, ya see that liiiittle button down there? plz click it...the authors are _so_disheartened that no one's been reviewing!

V


	12. Chp 7 Part 1

heya! ok, there's like...ten sentences that are supposed to be at the end of this chapter...but, well...the stupid computer lost them, so you'll have to wait untill Ember can resend them to me, k? for now, enjoy (most of) chapter 7!

* * *

Armstrong grabbed Ed, Rei and Bella into a tight hug.

"I've heard so much about you three!" he said. Ed pushed him away.

"My god, I thought I was gonna die of suffocation!" Bella muttered to Rei.

"I wonder who told him about us." Rei said sarcastically looking towards Roy. Roy leaned down towards them.

"Well, when I was approached by someone that annoying, I had no other choice than to tell him about your guy's pasts….." Armstrong took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears on his face. (Me: What a drama king :sighs:)

"And that is why I shall take the responsibility of being your escort to your mechanic." He said. Ed and Bella stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell! We don't need an escort!" Ed said. Riza turned to Ed.

"Edward, are you saying you, Al and the girls are going to leave when there's a chance you'll get attacked by Scar again? You need an escort." She said sternly.

"Yeah, and in the condition you three are in, you do think you'll be able to carry Al?" Havoc spoke up.

"Fine, but does if have to be the Major?" Bella asked, annoyed. Everyone made up excuses why they couldn't escort our young alchemists. Armstrong patted Ed's head.

"So it's decided!" he said. Ed looked at him angrily.

"Nothing's decided!" Ed yelled

"We don't need you to decided stuff for us." Rei said simply. Armstrong bent down so he was face to face with Ed.

"Now, you children should listen to your elders."

"Don't treat us like kids!" Ed shouted. He turned to Al and Bella behind him.

"Hey Al, Bella, we're not gonna take that, are we!"

"Oh brother! This is the first time I've been treated like a kid since I became a suit of armor!" Al said, happily. Ed slapped himself, obviously annoyed. "What about you Bella?" he asked, hoping she would agree with him. She smiled and nodded.

"Ha! Three to one!" He said, pointing towards Roy. Roy gave him an evil smile.

"Well, if insist on being unreasonable, how would you like it if I gave you court-martial for disobeying orders?" he said with a smirk on his face.

"What! You dirty little-" Ed and Bella started, shooting death glares at Roy.

_At the Train Station_

Rei and Bella sat next to each other across from Armstrong and Ed. (who is being squished) Hughes had come by to wish them safe travels hours ago. Now they were passing by some mountains when Armstrong asked Ed about Risembool.

"It's just a quaint little town" he said. "Actually everything got destroyed because of the Civil War in the East. It might have been a bustling city by now if the military had been more on top of things." As he said this, Armstrong gave him an annoyed look. Ed looked out the window smiling as he continued.

"But, it's a real quiet place. You can get a lot of stuff there you can't in the city." He continued. "Yup, that's me and Al's hometown."

"Speaking of Al," Bella spoke up suddenly, "Don't you think he's lonely in the luggage car by himself?" she asked.

"Nonsense," Armstrong started "I put him in with the livestock so he wouldn't be lonely." Ed turned to face Armstrong, with an annoyed look on his face.

"You jerk! That's worse than the luggage car!" he exclaimed. As he and the Major argued Bella spotted someone familiar. A woman with purple hair a few seats ahead of them was reading the newspaper. Rei looked at Bella confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked, petting Koneko in her lap as he slept. Bella broke out of her thoughts as she heard Rei's voice.

"Huh?" She said turning to Rei. "Oh, it's nothing. I just thought I recognized someone." Rei gave her a confused look, but shrugged it off. _That's so strange…… _Bella thought, _that can't really be her. 'Cause if she's here, that means-_ She shook her thoughts away, not believing them.

_Next Morning_

Ed yawned in his sleep, his face pressed against the window. Rei was in the same position as Edward and Bella was just waking up. Armstrong was already awake, reading a book to waste time. He turned his head towards the window as he saw someone familiar (Me: Too many familiar people!) He leaned towards the window, almost crushing Ed in the process. Ed awoke as he was pressed against the window.

"AGH!"

"Dr. Marcoh?" Armstrong asked. The man turned to him as he heard his voice. He looked towards the Major and stared in fright and raced away. (Wouldn't everyone do that? I would. The Major scares me)

"DR. MARCOH!" The Major yelled. Bella looked towards him, sleepily.

"Someone you know?" she asked, drowsy. Armstrong nodded. They were going to get off at this stop to meet the man Major recognized.

"Hey Rei, wake up already" Bella said. Rei stirred slightly. Bella sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ugh….. Wake up Rei!" She said, nudging Rei. Rei fluttered her eyes open sleepily.

"Wha?" She asked.

"We're getting off here real quick, now get off your butt and let's get moving." Bella said, impatiently as Ed and Armstrong were waiting in the aisle beside them. Rei shot her a death glare for waking her before standing up. (Rei's very grumpy in the mornings)

"Finally" Bella said.

"You're impatient today." Ed said.

"Well I wanna get my hand fixed soon. I'm a lefty and I don't know how much longer I can handle using my right hand. It's too hard!" She whined. Ed rolled his eyes _Typical Bella…._ he thought.

Armstrong knocked on the door at Marcoh's house for the third time. This is was where the people walking on the streets had told them. Ed realized the door was unlocked and opened it slightly, popping his head inside.

"Dr. Marcoh?" He asked quietly as he looked forward to see a gun pointed in his face. He shrieked and jumped back as the gun was fired, barely missing him. There, standing far away from the door was Dr. Marcoh, gun in hand.

"You're here to take me back aren't you!" He asked quickly, fright in his voice.

"Dr. Marcoh, we're here to-" Armstrong started.

"No! I'm not going back to that place! You can't make me!" Dr. Marcoh interrupted. Armstrong threw the crate Al was in at Dr. Marcoh.

"DR. MARCOH! COOPERATE!" he shouted.

"AL!" Ed shouted as Al was thrown at Dr. Marcoh.

"I couldn't stand it anymore……" Dr. Marcoh said. He had let them inside his house finally and the five of them were sitting at the table, with Al on the floor. (poor Al) "Having to obey their orders…….. dirtying my hands to research the things I did…… and then seeing it used in the Civil War to slaughter hundreds of people…" he paused.

"It was an awful war." He said. "So many innocent people died…." Bella looked down at the table. The horrid memory of the Ishbal Massacre still haunted her every day. Rei took notice and gave Bella a confused look.

"I couldn't make up for my actions if I paid for them for the rest of my life." Marcoh continued. "but still I try to do what I can. That's why I work as a doctor in this place."

"What were you researching before you left? What did you take with you?" Armstrong asked. Marcoh paused again.

"I was making the Philosopher's Stone." He said. Everyone looked towards him, astonished.

"I took the stone and the research data."

"Do you have the stone!" Ed asked. Marcoh turned to a cabinet and grabbed a small vile with a blood red liquid inside.

"Stone? It looks like a liquid!" Bella said as Marcoh took off the cork top. He titled the vile and the liquid dripped onto the table.

"WHA!" Ed and Bella exclaimed. It fell onto the table into a perfect circular shape.

"The Sage's Stone, The Stone of Heaven, The Great Elixir, The Red Tincture," Rei said simply "There's are many different names for the Philosopher's Stone, but it looks to be that the Philosopher's Stone isn't a stone at all." She glanced towards Marcoh. "Am I correct?" He nodded.

"It's just for experimental purposes. It's an imperfect compound and it's impossible to know when it will reach its limits and cease to work." He said.

"It may be imperfect but the fact that you made it means that it's possible to make the perfect stone someday, right?" Ed said quietly. He looked at Marcoh as anew hope swept over him.

"Dr. Marcoh! Could you show us your data?" he asked eagerly.

"What!" He turned towards the Major. "What do you mean to do such a thing? Major Armstrong, who are these children?"

"They are state alchemists." he said quietly.

"These children! They have state licensee at their age? They must have been lured by the promises of privilege and research money… How foolish!" he said.

"It may have been foolish, but we had too!" Bella spoke up, determined. "We have to achieve our goals. Even if it means sleeping on this bed of nails." This was the only time Rei had saw Bella actually serious. It kinda shocked her. Marcoh looked down.

"So. You three committed the ultimate sin…." Bella then turned to her immature side.

"Well, not me exactly….." she trailed off. (Well, we all knew that her serious side wasn't going to last long :laughs:)

"I still cannot allow you three to see my data." He said.

"But why not!" Ed shouted, enraged.

"I've said everything I'm going to say. Getting your original bodies back… The stone shouldn't be used for something so trite."

"Trite?" Rei asked, glaring towards the Doctor.

"No one can ever see my research. It's the work of the Devil. And it can go straight to Hell…." He said. Ed looked at him enraged.

"I've already seen Hell." He said. Dr. Marcoh looked at him for a moment then turned his back to him.

"No….." he said "Please, go……" Ed looked devastated. Bella opened her mouth to protest, but Rei gave her a "Shut it or pay" look. Bella nodded, glancing towards Marcoh, and sighed. _Here we go…… back to the beginning again………_They walked out of the small house back towards the train station and waited for the next train to Risembool.

"Are you satisfied with how that turned out?" Armstrong asked the young alchemists. Ed looked up.

"You couldn't look at the data, but you could have just stolen the stone by force if you wanted to." He said.

"If we stole the thing that healed all those people we saw on the way to Marcoh's just to get our bodies back," Bella looked up towards the sky, her hands behind her head. "We'd just be selfish thieves. I don't want to live that life anymore."

"?" Ed and Rei looked at her confused.

"Yeah, I was a thief in Central a while back. I was pretty well-known." She looked back forward. "Oh god. I hope they don't remember me." She said with a terrified look.

"Lemme guess, they'd rip you to shreds?" Rei asked, raising her eyebrow with a smirk across her face, amused. Bella nodded.

"Actually, more like burn me on a pole." She laughed. "I can thank Mustang for my bad reputation." She shrugged. "Oh well, guess we can forget about that to get our bodies back." She said.

"Hey you!" the voice of Dr. Marcoh called out.

* * *

ok, there'll be more...soon, i dunno when! 


	13. Chp 7 Part 2

yay! i finally gots it! ok, here ya all go! (sry, i'm hyper...hehe...)

* * *

"Hey you!" the voice of Dr. Marcoh called out. Rei, Bella and Ed turned there heads towards Dr. Marcoh. He held out a piece of paper to Ed.

"This is the place where the research files are hidden." He handed the paper to Edward. "Look at this if you won't regret knowing the truth." He said. "And if it's you, you will uncover the truth behind the truth" He walked off and the three of them saluted. As Armstrong raised his hand to salute, he knocked Ed and Bella over. Rei took the paper out of Ed's hand and opened it.

"What's it say?" Bella asked, looking over her shoulder.

"The National Central Library 1st Branch." Rei said. She chuckled.

"Huh? What's so funny?" Bella asked, dumbfounded.

"If you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest" she said. Ed and Armstrong nodded.

"I don't get it!" Bella shouted. "What in the seven hells is that supposed to mean!"

Rei gave her an annoyed look and said simply, "Let's just say we've found our way to learning more about the Philosopher's Stone." She grinned evilly.

Chapter 8: A Home with a Family Waiting

Bella yawned as they walked towards the house on top of the hill along with Rei, Ed and Armstrong holding Al. Ed spotted an old woman at the top of the hill, smiling at them. He waved, smiling back.

"Hey Granny Pinako! I'm gonna need your help again!" He said. They reached

the top of the hill and Granny smiled at them.

"This is Major Armstrong." Ed said pointing towards Armstrong as Granny shook his hand. "This is Rei, she's a state Alchemist too." He gestured towards Rei, standing next to Al. "And lastly, Bella, yet another state alchemist." Granny Pinako looked at the three of them, comparing Armstrong, Rei and Bella to Ed.

"Is it just me, or since the last time I saw you Ed…." She started "Have you gotten smaller?" Ed looked at her enraged.

"Who are you calling 'small' you half-pint hag!" He shouted

"What did you call me you runt!" she yelled back.

"You heard me, guppy geezer!"

"Chibi-chump!"

"Micro-mini Granny!" Rei rolled her eyes at their argument. _Even people shorter than Ed agree he's small…._ She thought. Ed and Granny Pinako's argument was interrupted when a girl's voice shouted at Ed.

"HEY ED!" The voice sounded angry. Just then, a wrench came flying through the air and collided with Ed's head, causing him to fall down. (Ouch)

"HOW MANY TIMES TO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO **CALL** BEFORE YOU COME IN FOR MAINTENANCE!" the girls voice shouted again. Rei and Bella looked up and saw a skinny, blonde girl wearing a black tube top, pink pants and a red bandana on her head.

"WINRY YOU JERK!" Ed shouted as he sat up. "YOU COULD'VE KILLED ME!" Winry started laughing as she leaned towards the railing.

"Welcome back!" she shouted. Ed glared at her from below. "Looks like you brought some friends too." She said.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Winry shouted at Ed, staring at his missing arm.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, it got broken." Ed said simply.

"What do you mean 'it got broken'!" she asked. "That was my master-piece! State-of-the-art automail prosthetic. GAH! Just let me see the damage so I can fix it and get you out of here!" she yelled.

"Yeah, when I said 'broken', whatI meant was 'smashed into a thousand pieces'" he said, chuckling. Winry hit him with another wrench, enraged he destroyed his automail. She looked towards Al in his crate.

"And what's this? You went and broke Al too?" she asked. "What kind of **lifestyle **do you two lead?" She turned to Bella and Rei. "Please tell me your friends aren't as damaged and stupid as you Ed." Bella waved around her left arm where the hand was missing.

"Lucky for you, I only got my hand destroyed and Rei fixed her automail!" she chimed.

"See Ed, why doesn't this happen to you?" Winry asked. Ed death glared her then rolled his eyes, sighing. Pinako came and examined Ed's automail leg.

"Hmmmm…… After we rebuild the arm your leg needs to be adjusted." Pinako said.

"So, you've gotten a little taller after all? Last time I saw you, you were only #$ cm tall," Winry said with a smirk on her face. Pinako gestured Bella to pull her sleeve up so she could examine her arm.

"Hmmm…… Your automail's really light. I don't know if we can get the same design as your arm, but we'll try." She said.

"So how long will you take you, a week and a half?" Ed asked. Granny grinned at him.

"Don't underestimate me. I'll have it done in 5 days."

Ed, Bella, Rei and Al had gone outside for a bit. Al and Ed were talking out in the back, while Rei and Bella were out in the front.

"Well, what now?" Bella asked as she fell backwards, hitting the ground softly. Rei was sitting next to her, staring out into the sky. "Rei? Are you even listening to me?" Bella asked.

"No, I'm tuning you out Bella." Rei said sarcastically.

"Well, what do ya wanna do?" Bella asked again. Rei shrugged and looked out towards the sky again. Bella rolled her eyes and got up. She walked around the back when she heard Al shout her name.

"What's up Al?" She asked as she walked towards him, not seeing Ed in sight. Al paused for a moment, as though he was thinking something over.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Uh…. sure." Bella said, confused.

"Well, when we were battling Scar, when you got your hand shattered, I saw…." He stopped.

"Saw what?" Bella asked, unsure of what he was going to say next.

"You're eyes….. They turned dark red. Red like the Ishbalan. Just like Scars'" He said. Bella stared at him disbelief.

"You- you saw-" she stuttered. Al nodded as she sighed.

"Ugh……. I don't know how much longer I can keep this lie up." She said.

"So you really are Ishbal?" Al asked. Bella nodded shamefully.

"There's probably a bunch of questions I should answer now, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, if you're Ishbal, then why are you in the military? Isn't that dangerous?" Al asked.

"Well, I'm in the military for the same reason you and Ed are. The Philosopher's Stone." She said, falling backwards onto the ground. "I couldn't get much about it with the ruined cities of Ishbala, and Rush Valley was a dead end too. So I took the risk of joining the military."

"But you could get yourself killed if the military knew about it." Al said; a hint of concern in his voice for his friend.

"That's why I'm trusting you to keep this from Ed and Rei. Who knows what'll happen if they find out. Promise you won't tell Ed about me being Ishbal?" she asked. Al looked away from her for a second, thinking it over.

"I promise, but sooner or later they have to find out. Promise me that'll you'll tell them when you need to. You can't keep living a lie forever." Al said. (Me: Ah, so wise Al. Bella should be more like you.) Bella smiled cheerfully at him.

"Ok! I promise." She said.

_Five Days Later_

"Ok, ready?" Granny said. Ed groaned. He was sitting in a chair and Granny and Winry were about to reattach his new automail. Bella was sitting on the ground patiently to get her automail fixed next and, staring up at Ed. She wasn't wearing her normal clothes, but a white, short-sleeve shirt and a pair of shorts.

"ok, One, two, three!" They attached Ed's automail and he yelled out I pain.

"uh…….. I always hate the moment the nerves get connected." Ed said sighing.

"Don't be such a baby." Winry said as she pulled out a wrench and fixed up the prosthetics. Once she was done, he got up and tried it out.

"How is it?" she asked.

"Feels good!" Ed replied. Winry spoke up to tell him how to take care of his automail, but he was already racing outside to fix Al up. She rolled her eyes and looked down at Bella.

"OK, your turn." She said.

"YES! I hate using my right hand!" Bella said cheerfully. Winry grabbed the automail hand and motioned Bella to raise her arm.

"Now, since I couldn't get the same design as your automail, the hand is different and probably heavier, but it's stronger since your mechanic made it so light, that's why it broke easily." She said. Attaching the hand. Bella winced as the pain shot through her arm. Winry noticed something on her automail.

"Hey, what's this?" she pointed to a button on her arm and reached her hand towards it.

"AGH! NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Bella shouted, but Winry did and blades shot out of her arm, almost hitting Winry.

"AGH! Damn piece of crap! It takes forever to get those damn weapons back in!" Bella said, struggling to put the many blades back into her arm. Winry grew excited. _Uh oh……. I have a feeling this isn't gonna turn out good…….._ Bella thought.

_Few Minutes Later_

Ed and Al had come back in from sparing. They noticed Rei sitting on the couch, somewhat bored.

"Heya Angel!" Ed said cheerfully. He looked around to see two people missing. "UH, where's Winry and Bella?" he asked.

"Winry found weapons in Bella's automail and wanted to examine it. She's been doing it since you went outside." She smirked as Bella came rushing out of the room.

"Bella! Just let me take a closer look! I must know how your mechanic did it!" Winry shouted, following her.

"AH ED! SAVE ME FROM YOUR CRAZY MECHANIC!" Bella shouted. "What did I ever do to deserve this!"

"Everything" Ed said, laughing. She shot him a death glare before getting "attacked" by Winry again.

_The Next Day_

"Thanks for everything Granny" Ed said.

"Yeah, thanks Granny Pinako!" Bella said cheerfully. She looked around. "Does anyone know where Winry is?" she asked as Ed turned to leave.

"She did so many all-nighters that she's still sleeping." Granny replied. "Should I wake her?"

"No. She needs the rest." Rei said.

"Plus, she'll bug me to no end about treating my automail right." Ed complained. The five of them started walking down the road, but stopped when they heard someone shout.

"ED! AL! REI! BELLA!" shouted Winry's voice. They turned around to see her on the porch, waving at them sleepily. Bella and Al gave her a big wave while Ed and Rei did small waves.

* * *

yay! ...now i just have ta kill Kira 'n get her to give me chp. 8...:plots Kira's downfall with an evil grin: hehehe... 


	14. Chp 8

wow...this is a long chapter...ok, you've waited long enough...here's the next chapter! ...hehe, i like the end...:evil grin:

**Disclaimer** (seriously, these are over-rated...) no, i don't own FMA...neither do Ember and Kira, the _real_ authors of this story...wahhhhhhhhhhhh! i don't own it:sniffles: oh well, i get to complain about it!

Kira: about what?

Ember: we are ALL POWERFUL! we didn't do anything wrong!

Me:sighs: yeah, you did...:points out ... 999,999,999,999,9... (keep adding 9's...my fingers hurt...) grammer mistakes on the last chapters:

Ember: WHAT! i didn't type that!

Kira: yeah, you did...ne ways, enjoy the story!...since Ember-chan's to proud to admit it may be bad...

Ember: WE ARE PERFECT! HOW COULD WE MESS UP!

Me: yup, she's full of herself...

_

* * *

_

"Hurry up, Angel-chan! Al, c'mon!" Bella shouted, racing off the train.

"Jeez, Bella," Rei said. "The library's not gonna run away."

"You don't have to be in such a rush…" Al said.

"Just hurry up and come on!" Ed said, running after Bella. "We're finally in Central!"

Rei sighed. _I hate this place…way too crowded…_she thought.

Bella glanced at her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Rei shuddered slightly. "I hate this place. It's too damn crowded."

Bella grinned, but before she could say anything, a man and woman in military uniform came up to them, saluting. "Major Armstrong, we've come here to escort you," the woman said.

"Thank you, Second Lt. Ross. And you too, Sergeant Brosh," Armstrong said.

"Oh!" the man – Sergeant Brosh – said, looking at Al. "And this must be the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Rei grinned slightly and Bella started laughing, as the woman, 2nd Lt. Ross, said, "My name is Maria Ross. It's an honor to meet you, sir!"

"Denny Brosh," Sergeant Brosh said, "reporting, sir. I can see where you get your nickname! Very dignified!"

Ed got an anime vein, as Al pointed to him. "Hm?" Ross said.

"The little guy over there?" Brosh said, disbelieving.

Rei held Ed back, and Bella kept laughing. "Al…the Fullmetal…Alchemist!" she gasped between laughs.

"P…please accept my apologies!" Ross stuttered.

"I didn't mean little, per se…that is…" Brosh quickly added.

"Well, I had best head over to Central HQ to file my report," Armstrong said, with the cursed little pink sparkles around his head.

"EH? So this is good bye!" Ed shouted, forgetting his anger.

"Thanks for your help. Drop us a postcard sometime!" Bella added. "Bye bye!" she tried to run away.

Rei quickly stepped aside as Armstrong grabbed Bella and Ed in a big hug. "I will miss you as well! Ahh, the good times we shared on the road!" you could hear their bones snapping. "Until we meet again!" he finally let go. He turned to the officers, saying, "Well, then, I'll leave them with you!"

"Yes, sir!" they replied.

"Whaaat?" Bella shouted. "More bodyguards!"

"But of course!" Armstrong replied. Bella and Ed sighed, and they all started walking to the cars that had been provided.

"According to the reports from Eastern Headquarters, the assassin known as "Scar" is still at large," Maria said. "Until that situation is resolved, we have been instructed to be your bodyguards."

"We may not be as dependable as the major," Brosh added, "but we are confident in our ability to guard you, so please, feel at ease."

They arrived at the cars and Armstrong left in the first, leaving Rei, Ed, Al, Bella, Maria, and Brosh to ride in the other.

_Oh great…_Rei thought weakly. "Uh…" Bella said. "How are we all going to fit in one car?"

* * *

Later…

* * *

Eventually, they all got into the car. Al was on the left, with Bella stuck between him and Ed. Rei sat on Ed's lap ("Because she's smaller," Maria said.), and Maria and Brosh shared the other seat. 

Lucky…Bella glared slightly at Rei, jealous. She gets to sit in Edo-kun's lap, while I have to get smashed! Why can't I sit in his lap? she fumed silently.

"Well, I guess we're stuck with you," Ed sighed.

"Don't you mean, "Thank you for your help," big brother?" Al responded.

"Big broth-?" Maria shouted. "So…the person in the armor is the younger brother…?"

"But why do you wear armor?" Brosh asked.

The four alchemists exchanged glances, until Ed finally said, "It's a hobby."

"A hobby?" Brosh whispered to Maria. "Second Lieutenant, what sort of hobby are they talking about?"

"How should I know?" she whispered back. "Who are these kids?"

"HEY!" Ed shouted, pointing out the window and almost hitting Bella, snapping her out of her (:cough:evil:cough:) thoughts.

"There it is! I see it!" she screamed, forgetting her thoughts and instantly happy.

"Ah, yes. That's the National Central Library. It houses more books than any other library in the nation," Maria commented.

"They say it would take more than a hundred lifetimes to read the entire collection of books contained within," Rei added.

"The first branch, where you four are headed, is just to the west of here," Maria continued. "Research data, historical records, and lists of names were stored there…" everyone froze in shock of what they saw. "…however…just yesterday, the **entire collection** was incinerated."

The building was but ruins, not a single book left unharmed.

"We haven't completed our investigations," Maria sighed, "but it appears to have been arson."

* * *

Later (again…)…

* * *

"Tim Marcoh…let's see…" the bookkeeper said, searching through the lists of books. "I don't see any research journals by a Tim Marcoh in our records. Certainly nothing about the "Philosopher's Stone". Any new acquisitions, whether kept in the main building or the other branches, should be on file. It it's not here, it either means that it doesn't exist or it was destroyed in the fire the other day." 

Rei sighed, and both Bella and Ed collapsed with "DOOM" in big letters whirling around their heads.

"Uh…hello?" the bookkeeper asked.

Bella stood up, saying, "Thank you for your help…" in a kinda dazed voice. They started walking to the door.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"Do we look all right?" Ed responded sounding like a robot.

"Hey!" one of the librarians called. "Sheska might know something. You know, the girl who used to work at the first branch…"

"Oh yeah! I could look up Sheska's address for you. Would you like to meet her?"

"Who's that?" Bella looked slightly more hopeful. "Someone who knew a lot about the books at that branch?"

"You could say that…She's a real _bookworm_."

* * *

AN (Me: wait...i can't call it that...i didn't write the story...ok, PN! for Poster's Note! Kira: ...ok...that sounds odd... Me: so what? it works!): srypeoples, just realized i had never posted the first part of this chapter...probably 'cause it was so short...so this is _veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry_ long...oh well, now you can't complain for a while::smiles happily:

* * *

Later...

* * *

_Nok nok._

_Nok nok_.

"No answer," Ed sighed.

"Maybe she's not home?" Bella suggested, knocking on the door impatiently.

"The light's on," Rei responded, "so she should be here."

The door swung open, creaking slightly.

"Hello...?" Bella said cautiously. "WHOA!" she screamed. "What's with all the books?"

"Someone actually _lives_ here!" Ed exclaimed.

There were thousands of books, stacked in towers, filling up the room.

"Ms. Sheska!" Ross shouted. "Are you here?"

"Hello!" Ed and Brosh shouted.

"How could anyone live with this much clutter?" Al asked himself.

"...elp..." a faint voice issued from a fallen pile of books. "Somebody...Heeelp..."

Rei glanced at the pile, then grabbed Bella, who had been running unhelpfully in circles. "What!" she shouted, getting mad. Rei pointed at the pile, which shifted slightly.

"HEY! ED! Do you hear that!" Bella screamed, forgetting her anger. "Someone's _buried_ under there!"

"Dig! Dig!" Ed shouted, scrambling to shift the mountain of books.

* * *

...A While Later...

* * *

"Aaaah!" A girl, about average height, knelt on the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I accidentally tipped over the mountain of books...I thought I was going to _die_ under there! Thank you very much!" 

The room was a mess, due to a certain young alchemist...or two...

"Yes, I'm Sheska," the girl said. "As you can tell, I really love books, so when I got a job at the library branch I was ecstatic! But...because I love to read so much..."

"You would forget you were working and get lost in the books," Rei finished.

Sheska nodded. "I need to work hard so I can put my sick mother in a better hospital, but..." she sighed. "I'm no good at anything but reading, so no matter where I go, I can never keep a job. It's true. I'm the most _useless_ person in the world! The _scum of society_!"

"Uh..." Bella sweatdropped. "Is she really all right...?"

"We just wanted to ask you one question," Ed said. "Do you know anything about some research documents by Tim Marcoh?"

Sheska looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled. "Yes! I remember. His notes were the only handwritten documents among all the printed books. Someone had filed them incorrectly, so I remember them quite well."

Bella looked disbelieving. "So...it really was in that branch..." she said. "And that means..."

Ed collapsed. "It's burned to ash..." He staggered toward the door with Bella. "We're back to square one."

"Thank you for your time," Al said politely.

"Guys, wait," Rei said, grabbing Bella. She looked intently at Sheska, who looked flustered.

"I remember what was in them," the bookworm said. "The whole thing."

Ed, Bella, and Al froze. "HUH?" they shouted, spinning around.

"No, you don't understand...I have a _photographic memory_. All I have to do is read something _once_, and I can recall _everything_. Every word, every phrase, without error!"

Rei let go of Bella, and Bella and Ed jumped up and down in celebration.

"It'll take some time, but would you like me to transcribe it for you?" Sheska offered.

Bella grabbed Sheska's hand. "Thank you bookworm!" she shouted as Ed waved some victory fans around.

* * *

A Few Days Later...

* * *

"Sorry it took so long," Sheska said, putting down the papers, "but there was so much material that it took me five days to write it down. Here you go! Tim Marcoh's research notes, to the letter!" She pointed to the proudly. 

"She did it..." Bella said, amazed. "She really did it..."

"There truly are some amazing people in the world, huh, Bella...?" Ed said dazedly.

Rei stood behind them, a small knowing smile on her face.

"Now it makes sense. Marcoh couldn't run away with his notes because of the sheer volume of the material," Bella's eyes were wide.

"And you're sure all of these are Marcoh's?" Ed asked.

"Yes! Without a doubt," Sheska replied. "Tim Marcoh's recipe book - "1,000 Meals for Daily Living"!"

Ed, Al, and Rei smiled/grinned, but Brosh, Ross, and Bella (who was being stupid that day...I dunno) were confused.

"A tablespoon of sugar with a few drops of water..." Ross read. "It really is just a bunch of recipes!"

"Hey!" Brosh shouted. "What are you trying to pull, lady? These can't be the right documents!"

"But...!" Sheska protested. "I just copied it down exactly how I remembered it!"

"There must have been someone else writing under the same name," Brosh said apologetically. "I'm sorry, you four. It looks like this was all a waste of time."

"Now, Sheska," Rei said, ignoring him. "You're sure that this is a _flawless_ reproduction of Marcoh's notes, down to the last word and phrase?"

"Yes!" Sheska assured. "There are no mistakes."

Rei grinned. "You're _amazing. Thanks a lot_."

"All right!" Ed shouted. "C'mon, Al, Bella. Let's take these back to the main library." He grabbed the nearest stack.

"How will these help us?" Bella looked lost. "And why doesn't Angel-chan have to help!"

Al ignored her. "Good idea, brother. We can use their reference books."

"Second Lieutenant Ross," Rei said, scribbling some stuff on a scrap of paper. "Take my pin number, signature, and the silver watch as ID. Go to the State Alchemists' office in the presidential prefecture, and withdraw the amount I wrote down from my research grant and give it to Sheska." She grabbed the last stack of papers and walked to the door.

"Yes, ma'am," Ross said.

"Sheska, thanks again for everything," Ed shouted. "You're a lifesaver!"

"See ya!" Bella added. They walked out the door.

"From her research grants, huh...?" Ross said, as she and Sheska looked at the paper.

* * *

Outside

* * *

"EYAAAH!" Sheska's voice could be heard. "DOES THAT SAY WHAT I THINK IT DOES!" 

Ross's voice entered. "WHO IS THAT KID THAT SHE CAN HAND OUT THIS AMOUNT OF CASH!"

Central's Main Library

""Alchemists work for the people..."," Ed said. "That's our order's motto. Alchemists have always strived to use their powers to benefit ordinary people."

"State Alchemists go against that motto," Bella said, "which is why we're called "Dogs of the Military"." She sighed. "But that doesn't explain how _recipes_ can help us find the Philosopher's Stone!"

"At the same time," Rei added as if Bella hadn't said anything, "We have an obligation to keep our trade secrets out of the public arena."

"Oh yeah!" Bella shouted in remembrance. (...she's really out of it today...)

"I see..." Brosh said. "You wouldn't want your knowledge to fall into the wrong hands."

"You got it," Ed replied. "Which is why, to keep that from happening, we alchemists keep our notes in _code_."

"This may look like a normal recipe book to most people..." Rei flipped through some pages, "...but in reality, it's a _high-level alchemical document_ written in a code known only to the person who wrote it."

"But..." Brosh looked thoroughly confused. "If only one person knows the code, how can you hope to decipher it?"

Ed sat down. "With _knowledge_, _inspiration_, _patience_ (something someone...:cough: Bella :cough: doesn't have...), and good old-fashioned _hard work_."

"Jeez...I'm getting tired just _thinking_ about it!" Bella complained.

"These notes may be easier to decipher because they're disguised as a recipe book. After all, some people say that alchemy originated in the kitchen," Al said. "Big brother logs his research notes in the guise of a travelogue, so when I read it, I can't make heads or tails of it."

Bella brightened. "Oh! So that's why Angel-chan uses those crazy characters!"

Anger flashed in Rei's eyes. "They're not "crazy characters", as you called them. It's Japanese, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult my people."

"Whoops. Sorry!" Bella said.

"Ok..." Ed turned back to the notes. "All right! Let's crack this code and find out the truth about the Philosopher's Stone!"

* * *

One Week Later...

* * *

Ed and Bella leaned on the table, looking tired. Rei sat against a wall, with some papers next to her and a notebook in her lap. Al sat next to Ed, equally frustrated. 

"Why'd he make it so damn _hard_...?" Ed asked for the billionth time.

"Maybe we should ask Marcoh directly?" Bella responded.

"No," Rei said, still writing. "We've come this far - don't you want to finish, and know you've done something great?" There was very little sarcasm in her voice.

"But we still don't have a clue..." Bella whined.

Rei held up a paper with her neat handwriting on it. "I've got -"

"Um..." a voice came from the door.

"Sheska...?" Rei asked, surprised. Ed and Bella sat up.

"I'd heard that you four would be in here..." the girl said. "Thanks to you, Miss Reian, I was able to transfer my mother to an excellent hospital! I really don't know how to thank you..."

"It was nothing," Rei looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"But I feel bad about accepting so much money..."

Rei grinned, tapping the notes she was reading. "Compared to the secret in these, we got off cheap."

* * *

Later...

* * *

"I see...so those aren't just recipes...are they?" Sheska asked. "So...how is your deciphering coming along?" Everyone but Rei adopted a gloomy atmosphere. 

"Have you found a job yet?" Bella asked, attempting to lighten the mood. Sheska looked even gloomier.

"Well, I'd better go. Thank you so much for everything. And not just the money...It makes me so happy that a nobody like me, who's never been good at anything, was able to help out. Thank you," Sheska stood up to leave.

"You're not a nobody," Bella said. "I think being so passionate about something is a talent in itself," she grinned. "Plus, with that amazing memory of yours, I'm sure you'll do all right."

Sheska stood there for a moment, then smiled. "Thanks!"

"YO!" a tall man shouted from the door.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!" Bella called.

"I heard from the major that you'd be here. I told you guys to give me a call if you were ever in Central!"

"Yeah, we've been kinda busy ever since we got here," Bella said.

"I know what you mean! I've been so swamped lately, I haven't been able to leave the office!" Hughes laughed. "There's been so many incidents lately, the court-martial office that I'm in charge of has really been bustling. And we still haven't closed the Tucker chimera case."

Everyone's faces darkened at the reminder, and Hughes hastened to add, "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

"You were able to take some time to see us in the middle of your busy schedule?" Bella asked.

"Nah," Hughes replied, shaking his head. "I'm just on break. Thought I should drop by and say hi. I've gotta get back to work in a minute." He sighed wearily, "Sheesh...It's been busy enough as it is without the first branch burning down like that. I can't take much more of this."

"The..." Ed started.

"...first..." Bella continued.

"...branch?" Rei finished.

Hughes nodded. "It was close to the court-martial office, so we used it to store our records. Incident logs, lists of names, that kind of thing." He sighed again, "As you can imagine, the fire's really slowed us down."

"Hmmm..." Bella got a mischievous glint in her eyes, and looked at Sheska.

"WHAAAT!" Sheska yelled. Calming down, she added, "Well, it's true I _did_ read the military criminal records...and of course I remember them...but..."

"Whaddya think, Lieutenant Colonel?" Bella said, leaning back in her chair. "We're trying to find her a job."

"Huh?" Hughes sat up straight. "This little girl has an amazing talent like _that_! She could really help us out! Let's get the paperwork out of the way, right now! We're gonna give you a great salary!" He laughed manically, grabbing her and heading for the door.

"Huh!" Sheska gasped. "But...um...really! Uh...you guys! _Thank you so much_! I'm going to be more confident in myself and try my hardest! Thank you so much for everything!" Hughes dragged her out the door.

"He looks like a kidnapper," Ed commented, as they waved goodbye.

""Being so passionate about something is a talent in itself"?" Rei smiled slightly. "Very true, Bella."

Bella blinked, then jumped up and down. "YAY! Angel-chan smiled at me!"

Rei sweatdropped, and returned to her work.

"That reminds me...Angel, you were saying something before Sheska came in...?" Ed asked/said.

Rei nodded, and handed him the paper she had been working on. "I think I've got the basics decoded, so we just have to decipher the rest."

Ed smiled at her. "You're awesome, Angel!"

Rei blushed, and looked away. Seeing this, Bella laughed.

"What?" Ed was annoyed and confused.

"Oh, nothing!" Bella said in a sing-song voice. "I think an angel's just fallen for a -" A book collided with her head. "Owie...Angel-chan, why'd you have to throw that at me! And why'd you have to have such good aim..."

* * *

Three Days Later... _

* * *

Gonng _

_Gonng_

_Gonng_

"It's that time again," Ross sighed. "They've been at it for ten days straight...and still no progress."

Brosh opened the door. "All right, you four. Library's closing. Time to pack up."

"TH...THIS CAN'T BE!" Bella shouted.

"Is...is everything all right!" Brosh asked. "H-have you been fighting? Please, just calm down..."

"No, that's not it," Al said, sounding shocked.

"Then, are you frustrated because you can't decipher the code?" Ross asked.

"We deciphered it..." Bella said. "We deciphered the code, all right." She gave a short hollow laugh.

"Really!" Brosh said. "Then that's _good_!"

"THERE'S NOTHING GOOD ABOUT IT!" Ed slammed his fist on the floor. "DAMMIT!"

"This really is the work of the devil...Dammit, Marcoh...what the _hell_ were you doing!" Bella slammed her hands on the table.

"What's wrong?" Brosh asked Ed.

But it wasn't Ed who answered.

"The main ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone..." a hollow, emotionless voice came from the girl by the window. "The reason they're all dead..." Rei turned around, her empty eyes unfocused. "A living human being..."

* * *

ooohhh...wait, the reason _who _all is dead:confused: ...ah well, Kira's never gonna tell me...:pouts: oh well! 

hehe, keep reviewing! the authors love it!


	15. Chp 9

...shoot, sry guys...the first part was supposed ta be red and in chiller font...but stupid changed it...

* * *

It Brings Joy in Sorrow

Victory in Battle

Light to Darkness

Life to the Dead……

That is the power of the blood-red jewel which men honor the name

"The Philosopher's Stone."

* * *

"Maybe we would have been better off not knowing the truth at all." Bella said, breaking the silence that had overcome the room.

"If what these documents say is true," Rei spoke up, "The main ingredient of a Philosopher's Stone is a living human being. But not only that, it would take **numerous** human sacrifices to create **one** stone." All three state alchemists looked down at the ground, ashamed of what they had discovered.

"I've never imagined that something so inhuman was being conducted by the military!" Brosh said.

"We cannot let this go on unpunished!" Lt. Ross shouted. Ed looked down, his hand covering his face.

"Second Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Brosh," he said quietly, not making eye-contact with them, "Could you please not tell anyone about this…."

"But-"

"Please, act as if you never heard about this."

Later On

Rei and Bella had been sitting in their room for a long time, neither of them speaking. Rei was sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the ground, while Bella was curled up in the chair.

"Angel?" Bella asked quietly, attempting at breaking the silence. She wasn't the type who liked everything quiet for so long. (No wonder whenever she's around, there's mayhem :Laughs:) Rei turned her head away from the blue-eyed girl.

"Angel, you can't stay quiet forever." Bella said, setting her head on the armrest so she was looking at Rei upside-down. "Hello? Angel? Look at me." She put her hand out and waved it. "Hello? Earth to Angel. You there or are you in some kind of other dimension?" As much as the alchemist tried, she couldn't get Rei to say anything.

"Fine," Bella said in defeat, "But I guess you won't be getting this back." She held up a silver pocket watch with the Kings Crest and a six-pointed star. She traced the star with her finger. Rei looked over at Bella, who was attempting at opening it and she went wide-eyed.  
"When did you-"

"I have my ways, and like I said at Marcoh's, I _was_ a thief." She tugged on the lid. "Damn, it won't open." Rei got up and snatched the pocket watch away angrily.

"Don't ever take this away again." She said, shooting Bella a death glare.

"And she speaks!" Bella said.

"Shut it"

"Make me" Bella stuck her tongue out at the troubled alchemist, which was not the smartest idea.

"Fine, but I've got your notes." Rei said holding up pieces of paper. "And they don't really look like notes, more like random stuff you wrote down and doodles."

"Oh shit." Bella said quietly to herself.

"Wait- You're handwriting isn't like normal. I think I've seen this somewhe-"

"No you haven't!" Bella had snatched away the pieces of papers. _Shit, if she had those a second longer, she might have figured out that it was Ishbalan writing. _Bella thought quickly. "Aw man, you crinkled up my drawing!" Looking at one of the papers with disgust.

"Whatever." Rei responded slightly annoyed. The two turned when they heard a knock on the door, but then jumped when they heard the booming voice of the last person they wanted to see right now.

"Bellator Wings and Reian!" shouted the voice of Armstrong "It is I!" Rei rolled her eyes then looked towards her partner who was now hiding behind the chair she was sitting in moments before.

"Let's just keep quiet. Maybe he'll go away." Bella whispered.

"We know you're in there." Said the voice of Edward. Bella glared at the door as she heard him.

"Damn Ed. That stupid little pipsquea-" she didn't get to finish because Armstrong had ripped the door off its' hinges. Rei and Bella both spotted the two Elrics brothers standing on either side of Armstrong in shock of what the Strong-Arm Alchemist had just done.

"You.are.so.dead.pipsqueak." Bella mouthed to Ed. Ed able to translate what the heck she said, shouted in protest.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC SPECK OF SAND THAT CAN'T BE SEEN EVEN UNDER A MICROSCOPE!" he shouted, enraged.

"I didn't _call_ you anything, Ed" Bella smirked as he shot her a glare from hell.

_Moments Later_

"What a tragedy!" Armstrong said, tears rolling down his cheeks. (:cough: drama king :cough: ) "To think that the Philosopher's Stone would hide that horrible secret!" "It is a grave situation if this hell-like research was committed by an organization under the military! I cannot do nothing and allow this to pass!" he continued.

Rei and Bella looked over at Brosh and Ross.

"S-s-s-sorr-ry. When a guy that annoying got that close, we had to talk." They whispered to them, as though they were reading their minds. Brosh now noticed that Ed's right arm was automail, and Bella and Rei's automail hands hanging out of their sleeves.

"Oh, you arms are artificial?" Brosh asked them.

"Er… uh… Just a little incident in the Civil War back East" all three of them said at the same time.

"That's why we need the Philosopher's Stone to get their bodies back to normal." Al said. Brosh nodded, understandingly.

"Oh, I see. It's too bad it had to turn out this way. Sometimes the truth can be so cruel." Then, it suddenly hit the smartest of the three state alchemists.

"The truth…." Rei said quietly.

"Huh? What's wrong Angel?" Bella asked.

"Ed, Bella," Rei said looking towards them, "Do you two remember what Marcoh said?"

"Wha?" both Ed and Bella said, confused.

"Come on, what he said at the station." She paused, "The truth behind the truth….."

"I get it!" Bella said, with a light bulb above her head. "There's still something more!" she said cheerfully.

"Right," Rei nodded, "Something……."

_Moments Later, again……_

"There are currently four locations within Central that are alchemic research institutes that work for the military." Armstrong said, laying a map on Central on the table. "Among those four is the one that Dr. Marcoh worked for, the third research institute."

"I've passed through all of them after I got my national license." Ed said, studying the map. "This one didn't look like they were doing research that was all that important."

"Hey," Bella said, pointing to a building that didn't look familiar to the three alchemists. "What's this building?"

"Previously, that building used to be the fifth lab," Ross read from the booklet she held her hands, "It is currently only an unused deserted building however. Due to danger of collapsing, entrance is prohibited."

"That's our place" Rei said.

"Huh?" Bella asked confused. "What gives you that idea?"

"This" Rei pointed to the building right next to the fifth lab. "There's a prison next to it. To make a Philosopher's Stone, they need to use living humans as raw materials. Which means there's a place where they're supplied with raw materials."

"So, they used the death-row inmates as experiments, don't they?" Ed asked. Rei nodded.

"The inmates are the raw materials?" Bella asked, having a disgusted look on her face. Rei nodded again. "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"

"Considering this is a prison" Brosh pondered, "Then the military has something to do with this…."

"Somehow I think we poked our necks in too far into something too big." Ross said, her and Brosh having weird expressions on their faces.

"That's why we told you to act as if you never heard this" Al said.

"However," Armstrong started, "That is ultimately speculation at present. The nation may have no connection to this. This research organization may have acted independently."

"oh!" Bella said suddenly, "Isn't General Grand in charge of research department?" She smiled cheerfully, "We can ask him!" Armstrong looked down.

"That's not possible," he said, "Because he was killed by Scar not too long ago."

Bella's smile dropped.

"Damnit!" she said.

"Many national alchemists affiliated with the higher rankings of the military were killed by Scar." Armstrong said. "Among those who were killed, there may have been someone who knew about the truth" He picked up the map and rolled it up into a tube. "Should there actually be anyone of high rank in the military other than General Grand that is involved in this research, then it is inevitable that this will become complicated. I will probe into this matter and inform you four later."

"Until then," he continued, "The Second Lieutenant and the Sergeant are to keep quiet on this manner. And the Elric brothers, Miss Wings and Miss Angel will STAY PUT!"

"WHAT!" both Elrics shouted as Bella glared evilly at Armstrong for calling her Miss Wings. Armstrong looked at them for a second.

"HMPH! YOU THINKING OF SNEAKING INSIDE AND INVESTIGATING WERE YOU NOT!" Ed and Al were knocked back a little from his booming voice shouting. "YOU WILL NOT!" he continued, "EVEN THOUGH THERE MAY BE A WAY TO RESTORE BODIES AT PLACE, CHILDREN SHOULD NOT DO SUCH DANGEROUS THINGS!"

"We get it! We get it!" Ed shouted back. Finally when everyone was calmed down, Ed sighed. "We wouldn't do something _that_ dangerous!"

"We'll just wait for what the Major has to report." Al said.

When the Major, 2nd Lt. and Sergeant had left, Ed grinned evilly.

"Hey Angel, Bella, get the bed sheets real quick." He said. Rei rolled her eyes and grabbed them off of her bed.

"What! We're actually going!" Bella said.

"Yes baka," Rei responded coldly. Bella smiled.

"Yay!" She said, "I LOVE disrespecting orders!"

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like i promised, another _wonderful_ chapter from our amazing authoress Ember! Kira should probably have the next soon...if she doesn't have other stuff...


	16. Chp 10

gomen ne, ppl! stupid wouldn't let me upload stories new chapters for a looooonnng time :murders ways...on with da story!

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"Yeah, right!" Bella shouted, as the four ran along lamp-lit streets. (Kira: yes, Ember. The lamps:evil grin:)

"Shut up!" Rei whispered.

"Oh yeah…" everyone sweatdropped.

"It's our fault we got stuck with these bodies…" Ed muttered.

"…and it's up to us to find a way to change them back," Rei finished as they saw the abandoned laboratory.

_It's not _my_ fault…_Bella thought glumly. "That's odd…" she whispered, serious for once. "Why would a guard be protecting an abandoned building?"

"Very suspicious," Ed replied, looking thoughtful.

"How're we gonna get it?" Al asked.

"We could make **our own** entrance…" Bella suggested, looking evil.

"The light from the transmutation would alert the guard," Rei responded. She rested her automail hand on the wall. "However…" she jumped silently, pulling herself on top of the wall. "Al, toss Ed up."

"Waah!" Ed screamed quietly. "Jeez, warn me next time!" he complained.

Rei ignored him, reaching a hand down to pull Bella up. Grabbing the barbed wire, she gently lowered it down to Al, and he climbed up.

"It pains me to say this…" Ed sighed dejectedly, "…but at times like this, automail is very helpful."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Bella jumped down the other side.

Looking around, Ed groaned. "_Sheesh…_the entrance is blocked off, too?"

Bella tapped on the air shaft. "Who needs doors?" she grinned like the thief she was. (Bella: FORMER thief! Every1 else: w/e!)

"Okay!" Ed walked over. "Al, Bella, wait here. Me and Angel are gonna look around."

"What?" Bella complained.

"You sure you'll be all right by yourselves?" Al asked worriedly.

"We don't have a choice," Rei sighed, climbing up.

"With your big body, and Bella's height, you won't fit through here," Ed followed Rei.

In the lab…

_Gong-ong-ong-ong…_

The clatter echoed through the empty room.

"…Hey…" or maybe it wasn't empty.

"48! Hey, you awake!" the same voice said.

"Hm…what is it, 66?"

"We have **company**."

"Do you think we'll have fun this time?"

"Doesn't look like it. There's just four of them. A little fella, another little fella, a tall fella, and a big guy. Big guy's kinda funny lookin'."

""Funny lookin'," huh? Like you're one to talk."

"_Geh heh heh_! I'll let you have the little ones. I'll turn the big one and the tall fella…into _mincemeat_."

With Angel and Fullmetal…

"Oh man," Ed complained. "It's even tighter than I expected. If we were **normal** sized, we wouldn't be able to fit at all. I'm sure glad we're sma-" he froze. "No-oo-oo!"

Ahead of him, Rei sighed. She slammed her foot on another grate, then swiftly fell through the hole. "Hayaku!" she tapped her foot, looking around.

As Ed fell through, he couldn't help but ask, "What does "hayaku" mean?"

Rei sighed. "Hurry up." She glanced around again, thinking aloud, "There's just enough light to illuminate the floor…"

""Abandoned", huh?" Ed smirked. "**Bingo**."

They started walking down the hallway.

"Hey…" Ed spoke up, breaking the think silence. "Angel, why don't you let people use your name?"

Rei hesitated, then sighed. "Originally, it was because of a tradition among my people: first names are only used among family…or "close"" she said "close" sarcastically, as if it were nonexistent, "friends. But…it's also because of what it means and represents." She paused. "It's Japanese, and, like my people, can be translated many ways. A few things it means are 'soul', or 'departed ghost'. Another way, it means 'zero', or 'nonexistent'. Yet another way, it's 'cold', or 'actor'." She smiled wryly. "That's mostly the reason, though. I hate feeling like I have to live up to my name or other people's expectations. Although," she added almost as an afterthought, "it's ironic, how I've become what it means…"

Ed nodded understandingly. "…That makes sense. But then why don't you get mad when Bella uses your first name? And why don't you show emotion, ever?"

Rei stared coldly ahead, reverting to the withdrawn, cold shell she had worn when she first met Ed. "…I have my reasons. Let it suffice to say that the past affects the present more than most think."

They continued to walk in silence, one deep in thought, the other dwelling in the past.

With the Devil and the Tin Can…

Bella paced back and forth. "Jeez, where's Ed and Angel-chan?" she asked for the nth time. Suddenly, she grinned evilly. "Hehehe…maybe they're making out!"

Al sweatdropped, "Knowing Ed, they might be…" (Ed and Rei:screaming their heads off:)

Bella laughed, rolling around on the ground.

"I wonder if they're lost…" Al thought out loud. Suddenly, he shifted, narrowly avoiding the butcher's knife that cut where he had been just moments before.

"What the hell?" Bella screamed.

"Who's there?" Al called, alert.

"Not bad, not bad!" a voice said from beyond the knife. "Yer pretty fast for such a big guy. I like it!" An armored hand pulled the knife from the ground. "Otherwise, this wouldn't be any fun."

Al and Bella stared at the "creature" that had appeared. "It", well, he was a cross between a samurai and caveman-skeleton, and was armed with butcher's knives.

"You asked me who I am, so I guess I'll tell ya. Number 66! Least, that's the name they gave me when I got this job." "He" started laughing maniacally. "If you heard my **real name**, you'd piss your pants. I'll tell ya as I finish you off!"

"Are you saying that you're going to _kill_ me?" Al asked innocently.

"Nah nah, can't catch me!" Bella teased, running in circles.

66 stared at her a moment, the shouted, "STOP RUNNING IN CIRCLES, FREAK!"

Bella stopped in mid-stride, then fell on her face. "Owie…" she moaned, then jumped up, pointing an accusing finger at 66. "You made me hurt myself, meanie!"

"SHUT UP!" 66 screamed, losing his temper.

Bella fell over laughing, and 66 turned back to Al. "Eh…he…" he returned to his former…ah…idiocy. "_Geh heh heh_. I'll have you chopped up in no time. **If you wanna scream, do it now!**" 66 clanged his knives together.

Back to Angel and Fullmetal…

Ed and Rei froze. Before them, in the center of the room and carved into the floor, was a huge transmutation circle. As he looked around, Ed noticed the paleness of Rei's face.

"Angel…" he called softly. "Are you okay?"

Rei didn't respond at first. She walked forward, until she stood in one of the smaller circles on the edge. "The Philosopher's Stone…" she whispered, kneeling down and tracing part of the circle with her finger. "I've seen this before…" she said, a little louder. "…on the floor, the day…they died…the fire surrounded us…in the shape of this circle…" her eyes were unfocused, reflecting unseen flames, as she relived that day.

"You mean…" Ed looked around. "This is where they transmute the Philosopher's Stone?"

"It is," an unknown voice said. A suit of armor, much like a samurai's, stepped out of the darkness. "I don't know who you are, but you seem to know much about the stone…too much. I have been entrusted to guard this place. For now, you may call me Number 48. My orders are to eliminate any intruders who trespass here. I'm sorry that I have to do this, kids."

Rei stood up swiftly, her eyes unreadable.

"I'm sorry, too," Ed pulled his glove off his automail hand. Clapping his hands together, he continued, "Sorry that a 'kid' like me is gonna kick your butt!" he transmuted his automail into a short dagger. Rei slapped the ground, getting her usual four-foot sword and standing behind the armor.

"Hm! Alchemy, huh?" 48 said. "Well, then…" he got into striking position. "Let's see your skills…" he swung his sword, and Ed ducked out of the way just in time. Rei leapt onto 48's back, struck, and jumped out of the way of the blood-thirsty sword. It connected with her metal shoulder, and she stumbled back.

"So, your steel limb extends up to your shoulder. It just saved your life. Too bad for you…" the sword aimed for Rei's heart. "…my trusted blade can even cut through steel!"

A moment of silence.

"Angel, move!"

The whistling of a blade slicing air.

The sound of blade-on-steel.

"What?" 48 shouted. "Why did it not cut your hand?"

Rei had caught the tip of the sword with her automail hand, just centimeters from her. Ed watched, wide-eyed, as Rei pushed the sword back and 48 relaxed his grip. "Who said my arm was _steel_," she said, her eyes shut.

"You…you're -" 48 was cut off as Ed's foot connected with its side. "Oof!"

A hollow _klangg_ rang out, echoing off the walls.

"!" Ed gasped, jumping back. "…I know that sound…" he smirked. "Could it be…that you're **hollow** inside?"

"…Very good," 48 replied. "How did you know?"

"I spar all the time with a guy just like you," Ed smirked again. "I could just tell by the feel."

"Oh? So there are others like myself on the outside?"

"It makes me sick…knowing that there are idiots out there besides me who would even think of binding a **soul** to a **suit of armor**."

"Allow me to tell you a little _more_ about myself, then," 48 offered. ""48" was my number on death row. In my previous life--or rather when I had a body of flesh and blood - I was the killer known as "**_Slicer_**". Officially, I was supposed to have been executed two years ago. But my new employers needed the Slicer's skills, so they pulled me aside for their experiments. Now I serve as their guard."

"So…" Rei said, "that means, there must be a seal that connects your soul to the armor, right?"

"**Hm**…I see I needn't explain everything to you," 48 pulled the fabric away from his mask. "I don't know much about alchemy, myself…but apparently the soul is tied to the blood, and the iron in the blood bonds with the metal in this armor. Here," he lifted his mask, revealing a blood rune. "The blood rune is in my helm. Destroy this and you win."

"It's awfully _considerate_ of you to show me your weak point, old man," Ed said.

"_Fwa ha ha!_ I enjoy the thrill of _danger_ when I battle," 48 laughed, closing his mask. "And don't call me 'old man'."

"If you're _that_ considerate, maybe you'd be nice enough just to let us go?" Rei asked sweetly. (Bella: wow, she's not mad…she's acting like…like… Ember:freaking out: LIKE A STUPID ANIME SCHOOL GIRL!) "Just thought I'd ask…"

"Please…a _serial killer_ would never sit still and let his prey escape, would he?" 48 got into striking position again. "And now…**here I come**!"

He charged at Rei, who promptly dodged him. Their swords slammed together, and Rei forced 48 to back up. He broke away, quickly spinning around to block Ed's slash. Ed threw his arm back to punch 48's "face", and felt his shoulder snap. _What was that…?_ he thought. _My shoulder feels disjointed._ He remembered Winry's warning, but had not time to complain. "Whoa!" he ducked under the sword that had been on a collision course with his head.

Rei came up beside the armor, kicking it in an attempt to distract him from her (small, weak, pathetic, the list goes on and on…) partner. She succeeded, and did a quick no-hand back flip, barely avoiding the blade.

Almost.

She fell against a pillar, her shoulder already stained with blood. Quickly, she rolled out of the way of yet another slash, then back-rolled away from the stabbing sword.

"Just like monkeys…" 48 commented.

"WHAT'D YOU SAY?" Ed shouted.

"Hah hah hah!" 48 laughed. "It's nice to see some **lively** prey for once. But those **wounds**…" he yanked his sword from the ground, "…and your **exhaustion** will be your undoing. Your friends outside are being dealt with by my ally, even as we speak. He won't be able to save you."

"…Hey," Ed panted. "Is this ally of yours **strong**?"

"He's strong, all right," 48 replied. "But not as strong as me."

"Ah ha ha!" Ed laughed, standing up. "Then there's nothing to worry about. I've never won a fight against him." He wiped some of the blood off his face. "**Ever**."

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oooohhh, cliffy!...kinda...

plz review, da authors luv it!...welll, at least one does, i'm not sure about the other...


	17. Chp 11

see, ppl? this is what happens when won't let u upload chappies: u load fifty million (aka 2) at once!

oh well, plus for u guys,u don't have ta wait as long!

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Al's fist collided with the guardian's mask, knocking him to the ground. He got up and looked towards Al and Bella.

"Why you-" he started as he got up. He charged towards Al, blade in hand, and swung at him. Al dodged his attack.

"Why won't you two stay still and let me chop you up!" he said, spinning around and swung at Bella. Bella quickly dodge it in time, but just barely. The guardian kept on swinging his butcher blade at her more often than Al, since Al was a metal suit of armor, that made Bella an easy target. She dodged most of them, but the ones she didn't she just got cut a little. Bella backed up, but unfortunately for her, she had backed up into a wall. He pulled out another knife and was about to pierce her with it when Al grabbed him and spun him around, knocking his helmet off. It crashed to the ground with a thud.

"You ass, you made my head fall off." The guardian's voice said. Al and Bella stared in disbelief.

"You're body is-" Al stuttered

"Heh, heh. There was a little incident." The guardian said as he bent down to pick up his helmet. "Lemme tell you kiddies a little story." Great, more useless boring crap. Bella thought, but decided to pay attention, for fear she might get ambushed if she didn't.

"Once upon a time, in Central City, there was a butcher named Barry. Barry loved to chop up meat more than anything in the world. But one day, when Barry got tired of just cutting up cows and pigs…." He paused for a moment. "He found something new to chop up. People" he continued. "and so he went out night after night in search of fresh meat." He said this happily, making Al and Bella shudder. "Eventually Barry was caught, but not before he had slaughtered 23 VICTIMS! For terrorizing the poor people of Central City, Barry was sent straight to the gallows and everyone lived happily ever after." He chuckled. "At least that's the version everyone knows. But there's more to the story…." He continued. "Y'see, Barry didn't wind up in the gallows like he was supposed to. Instead some people spared his life on the condition that he guard a certain location, but first they took away his old meat sack and trapped his soul inside a metal body." He laughed insanely. "That's right! He's standing in front of you two right now. I'm Barry the Chopper!" Al and Bella stared at him confused.

"Who?" they both asked.

"I'm from a small village back east so I don't know anything about famous murders in Central" Al said.

"Yeah, and I lived in Ishbala." Bella said "I did live in Central for a year, but the name Barry the Chopper doesn't ring a bell." Barry was disappointed.

"What!" he said, "Fine, you may not have heard of me, but aren't you a little surprised about my body? You don't see a living suit of armor everyday." Bella and Alphonse stared at him with basically no expression at all. He got a little annoyed.

"Can't you at least say 'WAAGHH!' or 'AIEEE' or 'HOW DO YOU DO THAT!' C'mon! Throw me a frickin bone you kids!" he shouted. Al pulled off his helmet.

"We got the same case right here for ya." Bella said as she tapped her knuckles on the armor, causing it to clang. Barry stared in shock.

"Huh, another inmate from death row?" he asked.

"No! I'm not a criminal!" Al shouted. (Bella: I AM! Me: Former, dumby…… Bella: not anymore! Me: What! Bella: yeah I jacked Ed's pin number and silver watch and took a couple hundred dollars out of his account. Me: you're evil…….. Bella: - I know! Me: Whatcha spend it on? Bella: RAMEN! Me: anime fall Typical Bella…….. Bella: - I love Ramen!) Al placed his helmet back on his armor.

"When my original body disintegrated, my older brother transmuted my soul into this armor." He said. Barry chuckled.

"Heh, heh, Do you really trust your big brother?" he asked.

"Of course I do. He risked his life to transmute my soul." Al responded. Barry chuckled again. He was starting to make Bella suspicious. What is he up to? She thought.

"My, my, isn't brotherly love beautiful? Even if that love ain't real!" Al stared at him confused.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Well, what if your personality and memories were just fabricated by your 'big brother'?" Barry asked.

"That- that's impossible!" Al said.

"Think about it! What proof do you have that this person you claim to be ever existed! Where's your meat!" Barry asked, taunting him. Al stumbled with his words.

"What about you!" he asked. Suddenly a military guard came out from behind the corridor, armed with a gun. He pointed the gun towards Al, Bella and Barry.

"You there, Don't move!" he shouted. "This place is off limits!" Barry swung his blade back and sliced half of the military guard's head off. His body fell backwards with a heavy thud and his blood was smeared everywhere. Barry laughed.

"What about me you ask? That's easy!" he responded, "Love to chop up the flesh of living people! I love to kill so much I don't know what to do!" he shouted. "I KILL THEREFORE I AM! THAT'S ALL THE PROOF I NEED TO KNOW THAT I EXIST!"

"Al, don't believe him!" Bella shouted, "Ed would never do that! He would never lie to you!"

"Oh, almost forgot you where there Little Missy" Barry said turning towards Bella. "Since your buddy's armor, you're the only flesh I have to chop up!" he said as he charged towards Bella. Bella wanted to move, but she was paralyzed in fear. C'mon legs! Move Damnit! She heard a clang, and looked up to see Al had gotten in front of her.

"Bella! Run!" Al yelled. Bella shook her head fiercely. "Bella, go! Now!" he yelled at her. "I can't get hurt and you can, so leave!" Bella, finally exhausted, saw her chance and left Al alone to kick Barry's ass. She ran around the building to the other side. She looked back just in time to see Al throw his fist into Barry's cheek. (or where it would be if he had one.) Suddenly her face hit something solid.

She looked up to see that she had just ran into a green haired man's abs.

"Envy?" she said. The man just smiled. She glared up at him and stepped back. "Why are you here?" she said slowly.

"Just thought I'd stop by and see my favorite Ishbalan," he said menacingly. Bella's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Don't you dare," she started.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not gonna say anything about it," he said. She glared at him still. He suddenly leaned down and was about to kiss her when she leapt away.

"Envy, I don't know if you've realized this, BUT WE AREN'T TOGETHER ANYMORE!" she yelled at him.

"Oh, really I hadn't noticed. 'Cuz see, I still have the last words you said to me ringing in my ears," he said, charmingly. Bella rolled her eyes.

"You know, that line would've made any OTHER girl just jump right into bed with you, but guess what? I'M NOT LIKE EVERY OTHER $#ING GIRL, YOU BASTARD!" Bella shrieked. He didn't even flinch.

"Oh, right you're just like every other Ishbal girl," he responded quietly. Her eyes widened and she looked even more outraged.

"You $#ing bastard! Why are you here? Have you been stalking me or something?" she screamed. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her around the waist.

"Get away from me!" Bella turned and started back towards Al and Barry, who seemed to be losing rather badly. She started to walk when Envy grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. Hard.

"Don't you walk away from me, you little bitch!" he said, suddenly fierce. (Mood Swings much) She glared at him, though her side hurt really badly and she could feel a gash in the side of her head starting to bleed. Envy pushed her up harder against the wall.

"Bitch," she gasped. The pain in her side worsened as she was talking. Envy's eyes flashed with anger. He pulled her away from the wall. She thought he was going to let her go, but he only slammed her back against the wall harder. The pain in her head was becoming unbearable and she struggled for breath. His grip on her arms tightened and she couldn't take any more of it. Her world began to spin and she let herself fall into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile

"They'll never make it here in time" Slicer said to Rei and Ed. Rei smirked as she turned her attention towards Slicer.

"You think so, huh?" She smirked again. "AL! BELLA! NOW!" she shouted. Slicer turned around to see no one there.

"What! When did they-" He started, but noticed it was a trick. As he turned around, he saw Rei and Ed charging at him. Rei jumped up and with her four foot sword she knocked the helmet off the armor and it fell to the ground with a clank. The rest of the armor fell to the ground as well and she wiped some blood from her mouth. She bent down and picked up the helmet.

"What's the matter? You still haven't destroyed my blood rune." He said.

"There's something we need to ask you." She said calmly. "Tell us everything you know about the Philosopher's Stone."

"Never" Ed smirked at this.

"Cut it with the tough guy act" he said walking towards Rei. "You're hardly in the position to argue loser." He smirked, but stopped when Slicer started laughing.

"I haven't lost yet….." Rei and Ed looked at him confused, but they suddenly went wide eyed when they heard clanking of metal. Before Ed knew it, Rei was lying on the ground and her side was bleeding.

"REI!" he shouted. He turned around and just barely dodged the swing of the blade. Although, he did get hit in the side and he clutched his wound with his right arm.

"HOW CAN IT BE!" He shouted.

"No one said there could only be one soul for one suit of armor?" The body said as it walked closer towards Ed. Rei got up slightly and look towards Ed. With as much strength as she could gather, she got up, clutching her wound on her side. While Ed and the Slicer brothers were chit chatting, she limped over towards the body. As she clapped her hands, she saw Ed cough out blood as he was attacked in the stomach. She touched her hands on the armor and destroyed it. The remaining two pieces fell to the ground.

"AH! DAMN YOU, YOU LITTLE BRATS!" the body shouted. Ed slouched down on the nearby wall and sat down.

"Good work Angel!" he said, smiling through his pain. (That sounds dirty for some reason……)

"Hmm. You two are pretty amazing. This time you really won." The helmet said.

"And this time you better tell us everything you know." Ed said.

"That I cannot do," replied the helmet, "Just hurry up and destroy us and leave this place"

"We're aren't murders" Rei said quietly.

"Hmph, how naïve. How can you call us humans with bodies like these?" the helmet asked. "I didn't tell you to kill us but to destroy us!" Rei looked at him slightly annoyed.

"If we were to do that, and not accept you guys as humans, then that would be saying we don't consider my brother as a human either." Ed said. "My younger brother is human, and so are you guys. We're not going to kill you." Suddenly the helmet and body part of the armor started laughing.

"How ironic! From the time we could tell right from wrong, we brothers stole, destroyed and killed. We were labeled as outcasts and savages and thus lived. To be treated like human beings for the first time ever, after throwing away our bodies rather than our hearts." He broke out into laughter again. Rei and Ed gave him puzzled looks.

"So, you said you wanted to know about the Philosopher's Stone." The helmet started.

"Brother, no! We'll be punished!" the body shouted.

"It doesn't matter. We'll be punished anyways for not disposing of the intruders. And we've already died once, it's a little too late to be afraid." The helmet replied. "I'm giving you two a farewell gift. I'll tell you everything!" A rare smile formed across Rei's face until she felt her leg give out on her.

"Ah no!" she pleaded as she fell back to the ground. (poor Rei)

"Ah! Angel!" Ed shouted. He tried to get up, but was in too much pain to.

"I'm ok Ed." Rei replied.

"No you aren't!" he shouted.

"It's nothing, seriously" she said, trying to convince him she was alright, even though she was very far from alright. "continue…" she said, gesturing towards the helmet.

"Well, I told you, I don't know much about alchemy. I know nothing of the Philosopher's Stone." The helmet replied

"What! Then what's the point in talking!" Ed shouted.

"I may not know anything about the stone, but I do know about the ones who created it."

"Who are they?" Rei asked.

"They are-" the helmet started but he was suddenly pierced through his blood rune.

"That was too close," Said a woman's voice. "You mustn't blab too much 48"

"Oh my, what's the Fullmetal Runt doing here?" asked another voice. Rei and Ed looked up at three (yes 3) figures. One was a tall lady with nice curves wearing a dress, and a slender man with long green hair. The green-haired man was carrying the last figure, who appeared unconscious. Rei and Ed stared in disbelief. Because the third figure, that the green-haired man was carrying, was Bella.

END OF CHAPTER 11!

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...i had forgotten about Ember's...ah...exclamation at the end...:sweatdrop: oh well... 

oh yeah, so that's the end of Volume 3 of With These Broken Wings! (and, in FMA, the same)

but when they (finally) get to the end of vol. 6...if it's before vol. 7 comes out (which is this month), then u'll have to wait! hahaha!...that didn't make sense...so i'll say it like this: if they...well, catch up to the "production", aka translation of the FMA manga, then you'll have to wait until the next volume comes out...not that they'll ever catch up...

one last thing:

**_REVIEW!_** (keep on adding '!' like always...)


	18. Chp 12

Niri: sry ppl! i'm falling behind in posting...blame school! it's almost over, so i'm being forgetful!

Kirea:...and ur lazy...

Niri: (glares) ...

Kirea: (sigh) guess i'll have ta do it...no, Niri **_does not_** own this story...me n Ember-kun (Ember: HEY!) do! ...but we dont' own FMA...we _do_ own Bella and Rei! (who are _so_ much better than Ed and Al!)

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"What troublesome children," the woman said. "I wonder, how did they found out about this place?" She lifted the hand that had speared the helmet. "I hate to do this in front of your brother, but you leave me no choice." She sliced the helmet neatly in half.

"**Big brother!**" the younger brother shouted. "**B-big brother! Big brother!** Dammit, we can still fight! _Give us a body…give us a new body!_ Give us a -"

The man stabbed the forgotten sword through the blood seal, silencing the armor's voice forever. "Just shut the hell up before you say something else you'll regret," he said, dropping Bella. "God! Do you realize that you two almost killed our precious **human sacrifices**?" At this, Rei tensed, recognizing the voice. He repeatedly stabbed the soulless armor, continuing, "You don't have a clue what that means, do you? Not only that, but you were about to start revealing our secrets. You two could have totally wreaked our plans! Were you planning to make it up to us! _Well_?" Ed and Rei continued to watch, aghast, as the man continued to heartlessly pierce the armor. "Well, come on! _Say_ something! Huh?"

"Envy," the woman said calmly. "He's already dead."

"Oh?" the man - Envy - replied. "Figured. That idiot had no backbone at all. Really," he looked back. "He's so weak it makes me _sick_." He turned back to the two young alchemists resting on the pillar. "Ah! Yes, yes." He knelt down next to them. "Pleased to meetcha, Mr. Fullmetal Runt and Miss Angel-chan. I gotta hand it to you for making it this far. But you **did** see something that you **shouldn't** have." He put his face dangerously close to Rei's. "Maybe I should _kill_ you after all, hm?"

"Why…you…" Rei forced herself up.

"Huh?" Envy leapt back as Rei's foot shot through the air where his head had just been. "**Whoa!** How cute. The little ones still have some _fight_ in them. Bummer, I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight. I don't wanna get hurt!"

Ed stood up next to Rei, clapping his hands together, Bella forgotten. "Quit calling me **small! _You started this fight, and I'm gonna end it! I'll beat you so bad you'll wish you never _**-"

A loud _crack_ rand out through the room.

"…wha?" Ed stared disbelievingly at his broken arm. "**Whaaaa!** At a time like this?"

"Looks like your automail's busted," the woman commented.

"Lucky!" Envy shouted, throwing his arms in the air like an idiot (in the words of Ember, I stole that from her! or, in Rei's words, "A baka, aka you" aka Bella) He quickly kneed Ed in the stomach, holding the short alchemist up by his braid. "I was just kidding when I said that I would kill you," he dropped Ed. "You should be glad your arm broke. Spared you having the living **crap** bead out of you. You're almost as bad as your Ishbalan friend," he whined the last part.

"One more thing, kids," the woman added. "Don't ever forget that _we let you live._"

Ed passed out from blood loss (Kira: or cause he's a weakling Ed: HEY! Ember: it's true!), and Rei instinctively sent her fist flying towards the nearest threatening target.

Aka, Envy.

He wasn't expecting this, and stumbled back as it collided with his face. "Hey!" he complained, at the same time trying to avoid the flurry of kicks aimed towards him. One hit him square in the chest, and he flew back from the sheer force put into it. "Ow…for all your wounds, you're still pretty strong," he stood up, glaring at Rei.

"You fucking murderer…" she spat, her eyes filled with hate toward her family's murderer. She had overspent her energy on that last attack, though, and fell against the pillar, collapsing to the floor. As her mind struggled to retain consciousness, she heard the woman speak to Envy.

"Well, then. We no longer need this facility to make stones anyway. Let's just blow this place up to get rid of the evidence, shall we?"

"You sure it's such a good idea to let these kids live?"

"Granted, we didn't expect them to find this place, but just knowing about the process of making the stones won't get them anywhere. After all, our plan is already in its **final stage**."

"…but a _murderer_?" she heard Envy complain. "I've never even _seen_ her before!...well…I don't think so…"

At this, Rei's mind darkened, and she slipped into soothing unconsciousness.

',',',',',',',' Tin Can's POV ',',',',',',','

"_Hey, Al. There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about…"_

_What was it that Ed was trying to tell me?_

"…_but I've been too afraid to bring it up…"_

_Too afraid to bring it up…_

_Too afraid…_

"_What if your personality and memories were all fabricated by your 'big brother'?"_

Al blocked the swiftly moving knife with his arm just in time, and stared, surprised at the scratch.

"What's the matter, bub?" 66 asked. "You're slowin' down! Got somthin' on your mind? _Geh ha ha ha ha_! Seems like even an **artificial soul** ain't perfect! The tiniest doubt enters your big metal head and you have a _breakdown!_"

"Sh…shut up!" Al responded. "I'm not…" he stopped speaking, focusing on 66's attacks.

"**Just accept it. You'll feel better that way.**"

"Why you…"

66 took advantage of Al's momentary preoccupation, slamming his fist into the armor's side. Raising his knife, he called, "Geh ha ha ha ha! I got you now!" As his hand fell, something small knocked the knife away. "What the - !"

"Don't move!" Brosh and Ross ran around the corner. "Next time I'll aim for your head. Now, be quiet and hand over the big guy to us."

"Wait…what about Bella?" Al franticly looked around, but his comment was ignored by the others.

"What're you guys supposed to be?" 66 asked rudely.

"We're the ones who were entrusted with the task of guarding that person," Ross replied calmly.

"Ah, shit," 66 complained. "You escorts had to butt in just when it was getting fun! What was that guard doin-…" he paused, remembering. "Oh yeah. I sliced him, didn't I? Whoopsy." He sighed, looking around at the people surrounding him. "This has become a pain in the ass…"

A crumbling noise was heard from the building, and Brosh asked, "What's that noise?"

_Ka-boom!_ The whole lab collapsed.

"Wha…?"

"What the…?"

"An explosion!" Ross shouted. "Sergeant! We have to evacuate!" She span around to Al. "What are you doing? Run!"

"!" Al started to the collapsing building. "My brother! Angel! Bella!"

"Hold on…!" Ross grabbed his arm. "Where are you going!"

"My brother and Angel are still inside! Let me go!"

"Don't be a fool! If you go in there, you'll be crushed, too!"

"Hm…" 66 thought aloud, 30 feet away. "I guess it's time to…**RUN LIKE HELL!**" he ran off.

"Hey! **Freeze!**" Brosh aimed his gun at the running armor.

"You should think about high tailing it too, chump, unless you wanna end up a _pancake_! Geh heh heh heh!"

"…Damn!"

"My brother…" Al struggled. "Angel is…!"

"Right now, just think about saving yourself!" Ross tugged on his arm.

"Hello there," a man with green spiky hair walked up, Ed over his shoulder. Behind him, Rei had Bella on her back. "I cam to deliver some **packages**."

"**Big brother! Angel! Bella!**" Al stopped struggling.

Envy set Ed down, and Rei dropped Bella, collapsing next to her. (Kira: NO, not like that! Perverts! makes disgusted face ewww!)

"Their wounds aren't too bad, but she's," Envy gestured to Rei, "loosing a lot of blood, so you'd better get them to a hospital, quick. You guys should take better care of the little guys. They're quite talented, you know. We can't afford to lose them; they're precious material."

"Second Lieutenant Ross," Brosh ran over to them. "What are you doing? Hurry up!"

"Sergeant! Give me a hand!" she replied.

"Ed! Rei! What happened to them!" he paused in shock.

"I'll explain it later!" she turned to where Envy was standing. "You get away too…Eh? He's gone…"

"What are you two doing?" Brosh called to Al and Ross.

"R-righ-…" they all ran away.

',',',',',',','On a distant building',',',',',',','

"Damn…they really overdid it. Abandoning this place means they have no use for us, huh…?" 66 talked to himself. "…wonder if 48's dead," he sighed, "No use in going back to their base just to get trashed…" he disappeared into the night, leaving his voice behind, "I'll enjoy the air of this rotten world for a little bit."

* * *

Niri: wow...0.0 tense...okies, just a warning...chappie 13 will be...ah..._late_ in posting...and it won't be my fault!...i have recieved word from Kirea (odd, Ember's been avoiding me...wonder why?) that Ember, the (eventual) author of a new FMAxCCS fanfic (wait, i dunno if i was supposed ta say that yet...oh well), has gotten _behind_ in writing the next chapter...apparently, certain young alchemists (coughBellacough) are being..._stubborn_...and are causing chaos with her writing...so send death threats (dunno,Emberwants one...) and Ember-sama (...i was forced to say that...) will update sooner!...maybe...

and also, for you CCS fans..._plz_ read "Lost in Magic", a CCS fanfic from Kirea! personally, i think it's awesome...course, she's like a sister to me, so you might say that she forced me ta say that...but she didn't! it's really awesome!...and Reiaku reminds me of Rei...(thoughtful look)...it's kinda obvious who created them...

so, plz review! and send death threats! our psychopathic authors love them!...well, at least one does...


	19. Chp 13 Part 1

heya ppl! oh, read the note at the end! Ember has important notice!

...and there's an EdxBella scene at the endfor all u fans, k?

* * *

Edward lay in the hospital bed after he had just woken up. _Ah, where am I?_ he thought to himself as he looked around the completely white room. He spotted the brown-haired alchemist in the bed next to his, still unconscious. _Bella's here, but where's Angel? And Al? _He started to get up, but a painful shock stabbed in his side. He lay back against the bed, slightly annoyed. _Damn it still hurts…._ He sighed and tried to remember what had happened in the 'abandoned' laboratory. _Angel had kicked Envy and my automail broke, I got beaten up_ He frowned as he remembered that part. _"You're almost as bad as your Ishbalan friend"_

Envy had said that, but who was he talking about? Ed didn't know anyone who was of Ishbalan blood. (Ember: that makes me sound smart! Kira: Too bad it can't actually MAKE you smart….) But then, why did Envy say that?

"Wait, if he said it was one of my friends…" Ed said aloud, thoughtfully, "Then it could either be Angel-chan or Bella-chan…"

"What about me and Angel?"

Ed looked over at Bella, who was **finally** awake.

"Bella, you're awake" He said, grinning happily.

"No Ed, it's the Colonel." She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Feeling stupid, Ed blushed furiously (I know, that doesn't make sense, but we HAD to make Ed feel stupid!)

"Are you blush-"

"Bella?" Ed interrupted, "Envy…. Had said one of my friends was an….. Ishbalan……. That wouldn't be you, would it?"

"That damn bastard." Bella muttered to herself as she turned away from Ed. Ed smiled(no absolutely NO REASON at all).

"I mean, you can't possibly be one right? Your eyes aren't-" He gaze met up on the dark red eyes on the brown-haired alchemists' face. Both young state alchemists were silent, as both their eyes fell upon the floor.

"Ed-" Bella spoke up, trying to break the silence.

"Bella," Ed interrupted, "How come you didn't tell me? You can't tell me but you can let that…that…psychopath know?"

Bella could sense the pain in his voice and was ashamed she didn't tell the blonde earlier. (Ember: awwwww :sniffle: Kira: JUST GET ON WITH THE DAMN STORY! Ember: EEP:continues to write:)

"Do you know what could happen if the military found out!" Edward continued, "You could get yourself arrested or possibly killed! You shouldn't have done something so stupid!"

"So you're saying…." Bella said quietly, still not looking up from the ground. "It would have been better off if I hadn't joined the military and met you….."

"Wait- What! No!" Ed protested. He hadn't meant for Bella to feel like her didn't like her. "That's not what I-" He didn't get to finish, because Bella had already ran out the door to the room.

CLIFF HANGER!

* * *

Ember: MUHAHAHA! Sry it's short, I thought this was the perfect cliffhanger :big grin:  
Readers: HOW DARE YOU! THERE WAS NO EDXBELLA LIKE YOU SAID!  
Me: yes there was. Bella and Ed were the only people in the scene :grins:  
Readers: smartass…………

* * *

okies...now that u read that, i have been ordered (by Ember) to tell you this:

if you do not send death threats, there will be no more EdxBella, EdxRei, or EnvyxBella (what's that about?...i dunno...) scenes for a VERY LONG TIME! so send death threats!


	20. Chp 13 Part 2

heya every1! didja have fun whilst we were gone? ...nm, u probably did...

neways, here's the next part!

* * *

It had been hours since Ed had seen Bella. She had run off to go knows where. He would've followed her if it weren't for that god-forsaken pain in his side and Brosh and Ross keeping a close eye on him. Finally, he had gotten a chance to sneak off without them noticing. He went towards the roof of the building, hoping he would be able to spot the brown-haired alchemist from such a height, but to his surprise the alchemist was already there, her feet hanging off the sides of the railing, valuable items scattered around her and Koneko the small kitten in her arms.

_What's with all the jewelry?_ He thought, then he spotted his own pocket watch in the pile of items. _Ah! Why'd she take my pocket watch! _(1)

Obviously Bella hadn't noticed that he was there because she had started talking to Koneko.

"Don't look at me like that" She said quietly enough so Ed could hear. "I know I shouldn't steal, but it just makes me feel better, Koneko" She leaned her head on the kittens furry one while it purred softly.

"I wish Ed could see how hard it was to let him know about my race." She set Koneko down her lap, thinking for a bit, not noticing Ed listening behind her.

(Me: Note, I do NOT own the song "Simple and Clean"! Utada Hikaru does! And it's not the whole song, only part of it. Also, Bella's singing to this song sounds like the person who sings it from Kingdom Hearts the English version WHICH IS AN AWESOME GAME! PLAY IT OR PERISH! Thank you and enjoy the rest of the story/song Bella's about to sing :bows:)

_Wish I could prove I love you, _

_But does that mean I have to walk, on water?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_It's enough when I say so_

_And maybe some things are that simple_

_When you walk away you don't hear me say_

_Please……. Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and Clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

_Hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all……._

_Nothing's like before_

Her voice was soft and almost hypnotizing. She let out a big sigh, probably because she was relived. As Ed took a step forward, he saw Bella tense up. He looked down to see he had stepped down with his left foot, the automail one, and mentally slapped himself. Bella whipped around and saw him. She blushed madly, embarrassed he had probably heard everything. . She quickly got up and ran towards the stairway.

"Bella!" she heard Ed shout, but she ignored him. She had raced down about two flights of stairs, with only five more to go, when a dizzy feeling swept over her. She stepped back slightly, trying so hard not to fall into unconsciousness again. She staggered and slipped, and began to fall. She began to roll down the steps and found it harder to breathe. She gave in and slipped into unconsciousness.

Ed's POV:

"Bella!" you shouted at her, but she continued to run. You ran after her and turned a corner just in time to see her fall. You quickly rushed towards her and caught her before she could fall down any more steps. You could tell she had fallen into unconsciousness. You held her in your arms as you walked back to your room.

Third Person! Whoot Whoot!

Bella fluttered her eyes open. She looked ahead of her to find that she was back in her room.

"ugh….." she said as she sat up. She looked to her side to see Ed there, holding her hand. He jumped up excitedly and wrapped her in a hug.

"Ack! Blondie get off me! I can't breathe!" she said, though she was smiling.

"Sorry, I just got a little excited there," he said, returning the smile and letting her go.

"What happened?" Bella asked suddenly.

"Well, you caught me when I was eavesdropping on you and I guess you felt embarrassed because you ran away down the stairs." Ed said, gazing into her eyes uncertainly.

"Did you hear what I was saying?" Bella asked, hopeful he hadn't, but she knew in her heart what the answer was going to be. Ed nodded.

"All of it."

Bella looked away ashamed. Things were going to be really weird between them from now on.

"Bella?"

"Ed?" Bella said suddenly. "How do you feel…. about…. me?" she asked.

Ed looked down at his feet, struggling to find the right words. There were so many things he wanted to say. He wanted to tell her how beautiful he thought she was and how he adored everything about her, from her strong willed personality to her mesmerizing deep-blue (now red) eyes.

He wanted to tell her he didn't care if she was an Ishbalan and that he felt the same way about her too. But only one thing could express what he was feeling right now.

He looked at Bella, who was staring at him intently, with prominent fear in her eyes on his reaction. He gazed into her eyes before he lowered his head down. He brushed his lips softly against hers and locked her lips with his. As he broke away he looked into her eyes and saw complete happiness. They turned their heads around when they heard the door open. It was Sergeant Brosh and Lt. Ross. (2)

"Fullmetal Alchemist and Devil's Angel Alchemist!" Lt. Ross and Brosh shouted. "Please excuse us for what we do next!" Ed and Bella stared confused, until suddenly, Lt. Ross slapped Ed across the face. (Heh, heh, that's what Ed gets for kissing Bella smiles devilishly) Bella smiled at him, as though she were mocking him until Brosh punched her in the arm.

"HEY!" she shouted, clutching the spot where she was hit.

"Edward Elric, Bellator Wings! You two, Reian and Alphonse, were restricted from going to the abandoned laboratory! Major Armstrong knew it was dangerous, yet you ignore him and almost got yourselves killed!" Lt. Ross shouted at them. She continued. "First of all, you two and Rei may be talented, but you must remember that you are still children! Secondly you can't always act on your own." She paused, and in a calmer voice she said, "It's ok to trust adults sometimes…"

"MA'AM! SIR!" they shouted as they saluted to Ed and Bella, who were looking down at the ground, ashamed. "Please forgive us for our violent actions and words!"

Ed looked up at them.

"No, it's our fault. We should apologize." He said. Bella nodded her head

"We're sorry….." they said in unison.

"And will you reprimand us for hitting you?" Lt. Ross asked. Bella smiled sweetly.

"Nah, we kinda had it comin'" she said. They sighed, relieved.

"Why are you being so polite?" Ed asked.

"Even though national alchemists aren't regular soldiers, you guys have a rank equivalent to that of a Major." Lt. Ross replied. "One word and you could have us fired."

"You guys don't have to be so nervous. I didn't take the alchemy exam just for the rank." Ed said. He then looked at Bella suspiciously. "Although, I'm not so sure about Bella…….." Bella hit him on the head, hard.

"YOU MORON!" she yelled. "ARE YOU TRYING TO COMPARE ME TO MUSTANG?" Ed put his hands over his head, trying to block Bella from hitting him again.

"Ow! Hey! Stop hitting me!" he whined. Finally she stopped, and pouted. Suddenly, Ed went wide-eyed and he put his hand over his face.

"Hmm?" Bella asked, confused.

"I just remembered, there's gonna be something else we're gonna get screamed at for….." he said.

"Eh, what's that?" Bella said, cocking her head slightly.

"Hello, Winry?" Ed asked. He was sitting on the couch in the hallway, making a call to Winry.

"Ed? You hardly ever call." Winry's voice said from the other line.

"Well, uh, I need you to come over to Central and do some maintenance on me, Bella and maybe Angel." He said.

"What did you do now?" Winry demanded.

"My arm's broken. I can move my fingers, but I can't lift the arm at all. It feels like it's dislocated." He could hear Winry sigh on the other line and mutter something.

"What about Bella?" she asked.

"Uh, hold on, lemme put her on." he said. Ed handed the phone to Bella.

"Hi Winry!" Bella said cheerfully. "My automail got scraped up and parts of it are missing because they broke off because some jerk-ass creep." She said the last part in an angry tone.

"What happened!" Winry asked.

"Well, we kinda got into a fight and almost died!" Bella said. Ed mentally slapped himself.

"……………………….. Could you hand the phone to Edward, Bella?" Winry asked. Bella handed it to him and he put it to his ear.

"ED! YOU MORON!" Winry screamed in the phone. He pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced over at Bella who was covering her ears from the screaming.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU!" Winry screamed. "FIRST YOU GO AND BREAK YOUR AUTOMAIL AND THEN ALMOST GET YOURSELF AND YOUR FRIENDS KILLED! HOW STUPID ARE YOU!" Suddenly she paused. "But I _guess_ I can fix you guys up…." She said.

"Thank you Winry!" Bella said as she grabbed the phone from Ed. "We'll call you later about the details!"

"Phew…….." Ed said, relieved. _Glad that's over……._

_

* * *

_

Ember's notes:

(1) Bella took Ed's pocket watch because stealing makes her feel comfortable and it was something of Ed's so it made her feel a little bit better.

(2) Here's a question I got from a friend who pre-read this chapter "Is Ed and Bella kissing gonna lead on to something?" eh, maybe? I really wanna do an EnvyxBella scene but we don't get to see our favorite little dead sexy, sadistic, cross-dressing, palm tree for a while :pouts in corner with gloomy thing over head: (Rei and Bella: THANK GOD HE DOESN'T COME BACK FOR A WHILE!)

Niri:

k, so...don't expect the next for a while...i has been informed that Kira doeth not haveth book four, as her friend BV (sry, no names) hath borrowed it. so don't expect any updates foreth a whileth.

and sry about the Shakespereian (sry, no good spelling) speaking...and most of it wrong...i'm in an odd mood


	21. Chp 14 Part 1

heya ppl! here's part uno of chappie juu-yon! (readers: WTH!) sorry, sorry...probably shouldn't mix Spanish (uno means one) and Japanese (juu-yon means fourteen) ! sorry, im bored...neways, this is ONLY PART ONE! there is going to be more!...though, dunno when that'll happen...

6/26/06: if u've just started reading this, then ignore what comes after this.

readers: if you read this chapter before June 26, 2006, there is more added to the end! Kirea-sama didn't want to make this in three parts, but it had to be split to make sense! thank you for reading!

**

* * *

**

**Quick Summary and Update: **_In the battle with 48 and 66, Rei's leg gave out. She passed out, and didn't wake up, even when they were taken to the hospital. Ed and Bella were sharing a hospital room, but she was kept separate for unknown reasons. Fullmetal and Devil's Angel had a bit of an argument, but made up and now are back to normal (well, basically). A week has gone by since they were checked in, and Rei has yet to wake up. Worried about her, Ed and Bella asked a doctor to do an x-ray on her leg. What came back, though, was worse than they imagined…

* * *

_

Bella and Ed waited outside Rei's hospital room. They had been at the clinic for almost a week, and still Rei hadn't woken up. Ed was sitting on a chair, twitching occasionally, while Bella paced impatiently. 

"Argh! When's she gonna wake up, damnit!" Bella asked for the millionth time. Ed was as worried as she was, but had _somehow_ managed to contain his impatience. As if on cue, the door opened, and the doctor who had been taking care of Rei looked out.

"She's awake," the doc said, then frowned. "I don't agree with it, but she insists you come in. She has something to tell you."

"Finally!" Bella and Ed shouted, and raced into the room, unprepared for what they would soon see.

Rei was sitting in the bed, her face unnaturally pale, even compared to her usual white complexion. Her dull automail arm lay motionless in her lap, and her flesh arm hung limp, lifeless, covered with bandages. A cast covered what had no bandages, from above her elbow to her hand. Her breathing was shallow, but stronger than before.

"Angel!" Bella was totally shocked. Her friend looked terrible; her usually neatly braided hair was in a messy high ponytail, much like Bella's, and her eyes were duller than usual.

"Hey, Bella, Ed," she said weakly. She started coughing harshly, and tried to raise her automail arm, but it barely twitched. The doctor lifted her arm for her, and handed her some medicine. Rei nodded her thanks, and the coughing fit slowly subsided. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "So…how are you two?"

Bella didn't answer, still getting over her surprise. _Angel-chan…_she thought sadly. _You were always so fast, faster than our enemies…so how'd you get so hurt?_

"A few gashes and some failing automail," Ed replied instead, forcing his voice to be nonchalant. "Not that bad."

Bella snapped out of her shock abruptly, returning to her normal blunt self. "Angel, you sure you shouldn't be resting? Not to be rude or nothing, but you look like you've been through all seven hells and back."

Rei smiled weakly. "Do I really look that bad?" she asked. Seeing their looks, she added, "Never mind. There's…" she took another deep breath, attempting to keep her voice from frightening her already shocked friends. "There's something I need to tell you. Something," she continued quieter, almost to herself, "you should have known from the start." She coughed again, and a bit of blood came out of her mouth. When the doctor tried to help, she shook her head.

"Are you sure you don't want me to tell them?" the doctor asked, her eyes looking worried. "You should be resting; you're not even out of intensive care yet."

Rei shook her head again, a bit of her usual bright determination returning to her dead eyes. "I need to tell them. You can go; you must have others you need to check up on." There was obvious dismissal in her voice; how the silent Rei that Bella and Ed knew had learned it, they didn't know, but…it seemed right, in an odd way.

The doctor nodded and left, casting one last glance back at her patient. Bella came forward, sitting on the only chair. Ed sat on the end of the bed, not wanting to crowd Rei, but unwilling to stay to far away from her. Bella and Ed had a new look in their eyes, as if they were afraid to move, fearing the ice angel they once knew would shatter in her current broken state.

Bella was still worried, her eyes caring. "Are you sure you want to tell us? I mean, you can always tell us later!"

Rei shook her head. "No…you deserve to know now. You see," she took a deep breath before beginning her tale, "when I was 7, my real leg gave out. I was traveling alone, as I had for a while, so it was pure luck that a stranger nearby saw. They saw how I couldn't stand, and took me to the hospital. The doctors did an x-ray; they said my bone had snapped. They weren't sure why, but there was a hole in my bone, just above the ankle. They took a sample, put a cast on my leg, and told me to come back in a week, believing I would still be there because they thought I lived there. I traveled around, but eventually came back because I had nothing to do. When I did come back, the lab results were there. I was told…" she started coughing, and more blood came up, more than before. Bella grabbed the glass the doctor had given Rei before and helped her drink some. When the coughing had stopped, Rei continued, but her voice was rougher than before from all her coughing.

"They said…I had cancer. It had eaten a hole in my leg bone, which is why it snapped. They removed the tumor, and, after two years of constant watch, I was announced cancer-free. In the 6 years since, they said that I haven't had a relapse, so the military was never told. But…" her voice failed her, and she shut her eyes.

"It came back, didn't it?" Ed asked softly, staring at her. There was no more fear in his eyes; only caring understanding. She nodded.

Bella gasped. "So that's why you fell when we were fighting Scar, that first time!"

Rei nodded again, leaning back tiredly on the raised bed.

"So how long 'till your leg's healed?" Bella asked, attempting to be quieter so the angel wouldn't get to tired.

"Actually…" Rei smiled wryly. "Just a few more days."

Bella was confused. "But…doesn't it take a long time for bones to heal?"

"Yeah, usually. But…well, I don't quite get it, but the doctor who first told me I had cancer said that, when I'm asleep, my body uses alchemy, or something a lot like it to heal itself. Either its alchemy, he said, or some 'special cell', he called it," she shuddered. "He wanted to take me to a lab and test it, but I ran away. Really…" a tired but evil grin appeared on her face, oddly out of place with her shut eyes, "I was hardly there for the two years they watched me; they contacted a few other hospitals to check up on me."

Ed blinked, processing yet more new information. "So, either your body can use alchemy on its own, or you've got a special cell that heals you?"

Rei nodded. "Sounds funny, right?"

Bella grinned, acting normal for the others' sakes. "Nah. That's cool! You can instantly heal yourself! How is that 'funny'? It's awesome!" She ranted on for a while, eventually getting Ed to laugh. Surprisingly, a small smile appeared on Rei's face as she sat up straight.

"She's right," Ed sighed, after the hyperactive alchemist had calmed down. "Wish I could do that…but, if you can heal so quick, why can't you move your arms?" This fact had bothered him since they entered, and he decided now was the time to ask.

Rei winced, a pained expression appearing on her face. "Well…," she sighed, and looked at her left arm. "When the cancer came back, some was in my arm too. When I fell, the bone couldn't take the strain and cracked a bit, but the doctor hasn't been able to get it realigned right. She told me not to move it, because the more it's moved, the harder it will be to fix. And there's a missing bolt and wire in my arm; I'm lucky it lasted this long. Even if I can fix my arm, it severely stretches the rest of the metal."

"Then it's a good thing I called Winry!" Ed exclaimed. "She can fix your arm too," he sighed. He glared at his automail arm, which was in a sling, as if that would fix it.

"You missing a bolt?" Rei didn't look surprised; merely amused that Ed hadn't already noticed the lack of one very important part.

"Dunno," Ed shrugged. "Feels like it's dislocated."

Rei nodded. "It's a bolt."

Bella just watched. "But…you were hurt really bad, Rei, even without your leg…" she seemed unable to get over the fact that Rei even _had_ been hurt.

Rei turned to her, saying, "I've been hurt much worse before," with total seriousness. A distant memory darkened her eyes, but Bella didn't notice it.

"Still…" Bella's sad, caring eyes were looking at her hands, almost as if embarrassed that she was relatively unhurt, while the ice angel was literally stuck in bed.

Rei sighed. "Bella, I'll be fine in a few days." Her voice sounded truly annoyed with the repeated topic. "Believe me, its not that bad! Other than my leg, actually, I'm fine!" As if to contradict herself, she started coughing, red beads of blood spattering the blanket.

"Yeah right. Why can't you stop coughing, then?" Bella helped her with the medicine, scolding her stubborn friend.

Rei hesitated, and Ed looked worried. "I…" her voice was significantly quieter.

"It's from when you tried the human transmutation, isn't it?" Ed asked, his voice also quiet. When she looked surprised, he added, "My teacher had the same thing."

"It…I…" she sighed, unable to meet his eyes. "Its not exactly like hers…you see…well…" she sighed again, unsure of how to say it. "When I tried the human transmutation, my arm and leg weren't enough for the Gate…I'm missing part of my lungs, and a few other organs, but I've adapted…sorta…" the uncertain addition did nothing to help her friends.

Bella sighed, slightly annoyed. "And you didn't tell us earlier, why?"

"…I didn't want you worried…that I'd start coughing during a fight or something…" her reply was weak, and she knew it.

"Well, lemme think…" Bella said sarcastically, pretending to look thoughtful. "When your friend is out cold for _one whole week_," she stressed the words, looking pointedly at Rei, "and you don't know why or even _if_ she'll ever wake up, don't ya think we'll start worrying?"

"I guess……I'm sorry…I…I should…have told you……I'm sorry…" her voice faded, and the others could tell she was getting worn out.

Ed and Bella both sighed. "Stop apologizing already!" Bella yelled, and was about to hit Rei, but remembered her friend's condition.

"And it's not your fault!" Ed finished, both of them settling for glaring at the angel.

Rei sweatdropped at her friends' synchronized replies. _Jeez…they keep finishing each other's sentences…creepy…

* * *

_

The three alchemists talked for a while longer, well, Ed and Bella fought, and Rei listened, before the nurse forced the other two back to their rooms. 

"See ya tomorrow!" Bella waved her hand cheerfully back to Rei, and was rewarded with a small wave in response.

"See ya," Ed didn't bother to wave, but this didn't bother Rei. She knew they would both be back as soon as possible tomorrow, and maybe sooner, if Bella had a choice…

At this thought, Rei sighed. _She's so childish…_she smiled inwardly. _So…happy, and open. Yet she hides her past, just like the rest of us…and she can still act like nothing's wrong. …I envy her…_ the young alchemist sighed again, this time sadder. _I envy her…because she's been hurt…but still is willing to give the world a chance…a chance to heal the wound it caused…_

* * *

Outside, Ed and Bella didn't go back to their room right away. Looking at the closed door, Bella frowned; the first negative emotion Ed had ever seen her show. 

"She's hiding something…" Bella looked thoughtful, and then started to walk back to their room. "She didn't tell us everything."

"Wh-what?" Ed was surprised that Bella would even say that. "Why didn't she! And how did you know?"

Bella ignored his first question, but looked him in the eye as she answered the second. "Her eyes. They weren't focused on the present, looking more like she was looking at the past…or the future. And besides…" Bella faced forward, a smile on her face. "Me 'n Angel-chan are alike: we don't tell all."

Ed looked at the thief in awe, still surprised. "Wow…" he blinked.

A nurse walked up to them, urging them to return to their room. Blushing at Ed's awe, Bella ran ahead, slowly followed by her still-confused friend.

"Hm?" Ed looked down one of the halls branching off of the one they were in. "Oh! Al…"

"What?" Bella turned around, following Ed's eyes. "Heya Al! Whatcha doing in that corner?"

The armor didn't respond, looking straight ahead.

"…Ah," Ed sighed.

"Heeeey?" Bella asked. Taking a deep breath, she shouted, "**AL!**"

The armor turned, looking startled. "Bro…ther. Bella," he acknowledged.

"Don't stay over there!" Bella said.

"Why don't you come over to our room?" Ed asked his brother.

There was silence, but Al didn't answer.

"Hm?" Bella blinked, confused.

"No, never mind," Al stood. "I'll be going now."

"?" Ed looked as confused as Bella had.

"Ok!" Bella grinned, totally clueless. "We'll go ahead; c'mon Blondie!" She ran down the hall.

Ed glanced once more at his brother before following the hyperactive alchemist, leaving the armor to think.

"_What would you do if your personality and memory were artificially created by your brother?"_

Al looked in the mirror, leaning his hand on the wall next to it.

"_Accept it. You'll feel better, right?"_

Al could feel himself shaking, and his hand jerked, cracking the mirror. He looked down, lost in thought.

* * *

hehe, Bella 'n Edo-chan are so alike...maybe it will be a EdxBella fic! 

neways...no notes from the authoress right now, sorry! plz review, and read Kirea-sama's other story, "Heishi Tenshi, Book I: Lost in Magic", now redone and re...re...ah, w/e...

again, thx for reading!


	22. Chp 14 Part 2

Heya readers! Kira here, hacking Niri's account... -evil grin- and Ember-baka's here to witness mi crime... -innocent look- neways...here's the rest of chappie 14 (no thanx to -coughs- -hides from certain person- )  
Ember: FUDGE IS GOOD! -drools uncontrollably and eats piece-  
Kira: -cough- please ignore my immaturepartner-in-crime

have fun reading!

* * *

"Uuu - uggghh," a blond haired girl complained. "My butt hurts…" Winry Rockbell's blue eyes scanned the train station, saying, "Those four sure do get on these trains a lot even when it's like this…"

Despite her searching, she missed the two people behind her, looking at the "Welcome to CENTRAL" sign on the wall.

"Just like everybody says about Central," she said. "There's so many people…" Frowning, she muttered, "That damn Ed said, 'You'll find out when you see the landmark at the West Gate,' but what did he mean by landmark…?" Spotting a rather large man, she sighed. "Oh. The landmark…Major Armstrong!" she waved.

"Oh, Lady Winry!" the huge man said. "Thank you for the time at Resembool," he saluted.

"No, no, thank you for taking care of those stupid Elric brothers and their friends," she sighed, remembering their last visit. Getting mad again, she ranted, "But how can that damn Ed call me all the way out here and not even pick me up himself?"

"It is not his fault," the major soothed. "At the moment, he cannot move."

"Now what do you mean by 'cannot move'? He didn't mention anything about that," Winry commented as they walked down Central's crowded streets.

"Mmmm," the major thought about how he could phrase this. "How should I say…he has been kind of taken in…"

"TAKEN IN?" Winry jumped on his words, then sweatdropped. "Oh, I see…he's been put in a juvenile detention center for committing so many crimes…"

"Not at that sort of place," Armstrong tried to correct her.

"But, then why didn't Angel or Bella pick me up?" she ignored him.

When he didn't answer, she looked scared. "Huh…….You mean a hospital…?"

* * *

"No way!" Winry shouted, seeing Ed's bandage-covered body and Bella in the bed next to him. "I didn't hear anything about you being here for getting hurt that badly!"

"Actually," Bella said, looking annoyed. "It was less than half this bad at first, but…" she looked meaningfully at Armstrong.

"Ed! Bella!" she helped them take the extra bandages off. "But still…" she looked sad. "Aren't you still hurt really bad even without the part that the major did?"

"This isn't that big of a deal," Bella grinned, acting like her normal hyper self.

"They'll heal pretty fast," Ed added, pulling his hospital shirt back on.

"Wait…" Winry looked around expectantly. "Where's Angel? I haven't seen her anywhere…."

Total silence reigned over the room, and Armstrong left so the three friends could talk.

"Well…" Bella's happy grin saddened. "She's kinda…"

Al looked curious too, but didn't speak; he had been silent since Lab 5.

* * *

"WHAT!" Winry screamed as they entered Rei's room. "How…why…when…" she looked slightly lost. "I thought Angel was the _smart_ one in your group? So why is she the most hurt!"

"Well…" Bella looked at Ed. "You'd have to ask Edo-kun. I wasn't there." _And I'm not telling Winry about the cancer,_ she thought to herself. _That's for Angel-chan to say._

"I was being stupid," Ed tried to take the blame off Rei. "She's part of the reason I'm still here…" he realized how stupid he was being by telling Winry that.

Surprisingly, she didn't scream like he thought she would. "So…she protected you…and now she's like this?" she looked at the sleeping girl. Her eyes looked confused. "Wait…" she moved Rei's automail, a thoughtful look on her face. She muttered to herself, gently shifting this and turning that.

"…What's wrong?" Bella finally asked.

"Nothing…it's just odd. Her _body_'s all bandaged and hurt, but her automail's only missing a bolt; there's not a single scratch on the metal."

Rei opened her eyes, careful to move so that Winry wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. "So?" she asked, startling the mechanic.

"Angel! You're awake!" Winry said, smiling. "What's your automail made out of?"

Ed and Bella sweatdropped. _How like her…Angel's only just woken up, and she's already obsessed with automail…_ Ed sighed.

Rei had been unable to answer Winry's question, so the disappointed mechanic pulled Ed back to his room to fix his automail.

"If I recall correctly, didn't you say something like you won't need me or Granny once you get the Philosopher's Stone?" Winry tightened a bolt on the malfunctioning arm. "Yet you're the one that's still stuck with automail."

"Shaddup!" Ed sighed. "This is giving me a lot of grief!" Sighing again, he added, "For now, I have to keep it. And Al is still going to be like that…" Looking thoughtful, he told her, "Al's been acting strange lately…"

"Strange?"

"Yeah. It's like he's not talking as much or he's thinking about something," Ed looked sad.

"…I wonder if he's worried about something…" Winry said.

"Oh, you don't know either…" Ed looked disappointed.

"How should I know when you don't know even when you're always with him?" she glared, polishing the arm. "Ok, maintenance complete!"

"Oh, thanks," Ed moved it around. "It's finally fixed!"

"Now you hurry up and heal up!" Winry reprimanded.

"Heh heh…" Ed laughed, and they went back to Angel's room. Bella's hand was soon fixed, and Winry was working on Rei's when _he_ came.

"**HEY, ED! YOU GETTING IT ON WITH A WOMAN IN YOUR HOSPITAL ROOM!**" Hughes waved. "Oh, hi Bella, Angel," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"She's only my automail mechanic!" Ed fell over.

"Oh, so you seduced a mechanic…" Hughes mused.

"AHHHHH!"

"Winry, this guy's Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," Bella introduced, laughing at Ed's condition.

"Is it all right to sneak away from work?" Ed asked, recovering from his…_condition_.

"Hehehe, I'm off duty for the afternoon on," Hughes grinned.

"Really!" Ed raised his eyebrow. "Didn't you say that the tribunal's been really busy lately and you couldn't take a day off?"

"NO NEED TO WORRY!" Hughes assured. "I left the overtime work for Sheska to do."

"You're a monster," Bella sweatdropped.

"So while I was off duty, I came to check up on how you four were doing, but I also came to do something else. I've got some info about Scar. Seems like you'll be released from our watch pretty soon."

"Really?" Bella and Ed rejoiced. "We're finally free of these annoying escorts!"

"Hey, that's mean!" Brosh sweatdropped at their enthusiasm.

"What do you think would have happened if we weren't with you?" Ross asked, annoyed.

"Huh?" Winry turned on Ed. "Escorts…hey, what kind of dangerous business have you gotten into!"

"Ugh!" Ed froze.

"No, nothing! Don't worry! It's not a big deal!" Bella answered.

"…………" Winry sighed. "…Right. It's one of those things that you four wouldn't tell me even if I asked anyway. Well, see you tomorrow. I'll go look for an inn to stay at," she lifted her tool box.

"You can stay at one of the military lodging facilities for a cheap price if you mention my name," Bella and Ed offered at the same time.

"Military what? That sounds too stiff," Winry said.

"In that case, you can stay over at my house!" Hughes said.

"I don't want to impose myself on somebody I met for the first time…" Winry declined his offer.

"I'm telling you not to worry about it! My family would be delighted!" he grabbed her arm. "Ok, let's do that and let's go!"

"Huh? Excu…" she was dragged out the door by Hughes.

"He looks like a kidnapper…" Rei sighed, as the others sweatdropped.

* * *

"Grr…" Ed glared at the milk, as Bella laughed in the back ground. Rei was still stuck in her bed, and Al sat against the wall, lost in thought.

"So you're here again today, punk! I've had enough of this. What the hell is milk for?" Ed asked the air. "I'm definitely not drinking this!" Falling back on old habits, he asked, "Hey Al, drink this for me instead……wait. That won't work with that body…"

"…You have a real body, brother, so you'll have to drink it," the armor replied.

"I don't like stuff I don't like!" Ed ate the other food. "It's not like I'm going to die from not drinking milk!"

Rei tensed, causing Bella to look curious. "What is it, Angel-chan?" she asked.

"Something…" a sad look flashed through her eyes. "It would be better if we weren't here right now…" she sighed, looking at Ed and Al briefly. "This won't be happy."

Bella looked confused, and Ed continued his rant; he hadn't heard Rei's words. "And even if I look like this, I am getting bigger. But everybody keeps saying small, small! Al, you're lucky."

The door opened, and Al's fist clenched.

Unknowingly, Ed continued. "Since your body's huge."

Rei flinched, feeling a surge of emotion from the soulless armor. Winry stepped inside.

"**I DIDN'T WANT TO GET THIS BODY!**" Al shouted, standing up.

Ed froze, and Winry looked shocked. Bella glanced at Rei, and the sad withdrawal in Angel's eyes confirmed her thoughts: the girl knew this would happen.

There was total silence for a long time, unbroken by any sound.

"…I didn't want to…get this body…" Al said, shaking.

"Ah…" Ed looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry."

Bella and Rei sat quietly, not wanting to interrupt this. _It's important they work this out…themselves…_Rei sighed in her head. _But…it tears my heart to hear two brothers…bound by blood…fighting like this…_

"…Yeah, it's also my fault that everything got screwed up…" Ed continued. "That's why I want to restore your body as soon as possible…"

"And what proof is there that you're going to really restore my body?" Al asked icily.

"I'll definitely restore you! Trust me!"

"' Trust', huh? You're telling me to trust what with this hollow body……? In alchemy, they say a human being is made from the flesh, the mind, and the soul! But was there ever a person that proved that in an experiment?" The armor's voice could be heard in the hall outside. "If you think about it logically, all 'memory' is just 'information'…so it ought to be possible to artificially create one."

"What are you talking about…?" Ed looked confused and shocked.

"…Brother, you said there was something you were too scared to tell me before, right? **Could that have been something like my soul and memories were totally fake?** Brother, how do prove that a person name Alphonse Elric really existed? Right…isn't it possible that Winry, Granny, everybody was tricking me? WELL, IS IT, _BROTHER_?"

Ed slammed his hands on the tray, knocking off the fork. "…Is that…what you had been holding inside of you the whole time?" Ed's voice was quiet, void of emotion. "Is that everything you want to say?" Al nodded, and Ed didn't react. "…I see," he said, his expression not changing. He stood up, slipping on his slippers, and walked past Al out the door.

Bella glanced briefly at Rei, just long enough to see her nod, and then ran to the door. "Ed…!" she called, but he didn't turn around.

She turned around, and Winry said, "You…" As one, the two girls hit Al. "**DUMMY!**"

"Wh-what was that for?" Al asked, suitably scared.

Bella fumed, while tears streamed from Winry's eyes. "Wi…Winry…Bella...g" Al said, scared.

"**AL, YOU DUMMY!**" Winry whacked Al with her wrench. "**YOU DON'T KNOW HOW ED FEELS! THAT THING THAT ED WAS TOO SCARED TO TELL YOU…WAS THAT IF YOU BLAMED HIM FOR WHAT HAPPENED!**" Quieting, she continued. "He cried every night while moaning from the pain and the fever that came along with the automail surgery."

"But…but you're still…" Bella said, continuing the mechanic's words. "In just world is there an idiot that would be ready to throw away his own life to make a fake little brother? **Isn't he your only brother?**"

Al sat, thoughtful, until Bella and Winry pointed as one to the door. "Chase after him!" they said, glaring.

"Ah…" Al stood. "…ok."

"**HURRY UP!**" they shouted after him.

"OK!" he bolted away from the angry duo.

Rei sighed at the two. "You over did it…" she sighed again.

* * *

"……" Al stood on the roof, looking at Ed. "Bro…"

"That reminds me," Ed interrupted. "I haven't sparred for a while so my body's gotten weak."

"Huh?" Al blinked. "What are you talking about? Your wounds haven't even healed yet…**WAH!**" he stepped back, narrowly avoiding Ed's kick. "Wai…wait! Brother, wait!" He continued to deflect Ed's attacks, missing the sheet Ed threw at him. "You'll open your wounds!...?" He missed the kick Ed launched, unable to see through the sheet.

"I won," Ed announced, flopping on the ground next to Al. "Hehehe, this is the first time I beat you, Al."

"…That's not fair, brother."

"Shut up, a win's a win!" Enjoying the fresh air for a moment, Ed continued, "…We fought a lot when we were kids."

"Yeah," Al replied. "Now that I think about it, we fought over a bunch of stupid things. Like who would get the top or the bottom bed in a bunk bed…"

"I lost that time."

"We always fought over snacks."

"Awww…I don't remember ever winning."

"We fought when we were training with sensei, too."

"The master told us to shut up and half killed us, so that was a draw. Who'd get the toys…"

"I won that time."

"And back when I doodled in your book, Al."

"I totally clobbered you. We fought when we played at Lane River, too."

"I got knocked into the river.

"We also fought over who'd get to marry Winry."

"Huh? I don't remember that!"

"I won, but I was rejected."

"…Oh, I see…Hey, I never won!"

Al laughed.

"…And you're saying those are all fake memories."

"I'm sorry."

"Weren't you the one that said this at East City? 'I want to restore my body, no matter what'. Are you saying that's also an artificial feeling?"

"…That wasn't artificial."

"Yeah, we've decided that we'll definitely restore ourselves. We don't need the sort of half-hearted hearts that would get shaken up by something as minor as this. I am going to get stronger, both emotionally and physically!" Ed punched his automail arm toward the sun. "…And drink as much…milk…as I can…"

"Haha," Al laughed. "Yeah," he set his fist against Ed's. "Let's get even stronger."

* * *

"And after I was kicked by this guy," Ed pointed to a quick sketch the cross-dressing palm tree, "I don't remember anything else."

"Soul guardians…precious sacrifice…allowed to live…a person named Envy…and according to Mr. Marcoh, the stones were used even at the East Area Civil War…" Armstrong looked thoughtful. A tattoo of the ouroborus, the transmutation circle for the philosopher's stones…there are many mysteries just concerning the experiment on the stones."

"Even if we try to investigate this any further, the research institute is a pile of rubble now…" Hughes sighed.

"Are you _sure_ there was nothing else?" Armstrong asked.

"Any detail, however small, might make our work a lot less…" Hughes added.

"No -" Ed started, but Rei stopped him.

"After Ed passed out, Envy and Lu - …the woman talked for a bit longer," she skipped the part where she beat up Envy, dismissing it as pointless. She told them everything the two had said, leaving out Envy's final complaint.

"Still…" Hughes looked thoughtful now. "There's a big time difference between then and when Ross and Brosh found you…"

Rei hesitated, finally nodding. She didn't speak, though, so Ed poked her. "What happened?" he asked.

"…I beat him up a bit," she grinned, as did Bella, "and called him a murderer. That would have been at least 10 minutes; he took a long time standing back up. And…" she shut her eyes, but despite the other's prodding, refused to say any more.

"Go Angel-chan!" Bella celebrated. "How much?"

"A punch…and more than a few kicks…" her grin vanished, but there was an evil look on her face. "No more than that fucking _murderer_ deserves." Pain and hate flashed through her eyes.

Everyone blinked, surprised to hear her speak so vehemently. She had always been so silent, but when she spoke, she hadn't cursed others like Bella often did.

Rei was saved from questions by Winry's arrival. "I bought the train tickets you asked me to get," she handed Rei the tickets, not trusting Ed with them.

"Oh, thanks," Ed said.

"You're in a rush," Armstrong commented. "None of your wounds have healed, on any of you."

"We can't stay locked up in a place that stinks of antiseptics forever! We're leaving Central tomorrow!" Bella announced.

"Where are you going this time?" Hughes asked, looking at the tickets. "Dublith?"

"Where's that?" Winry asked.

"Umm…" Al scanned over the map. "Right in the middle of the south area," he pointed it out.

"AH!" Winry shouted. "Over here! Right before Dublith!"

"Rush Valley?" Ed looked where she pointed. "What's over there?"

"Nothing," Bella said, but she was drowned out by Winry's explanation.

"Rush Valley, the Holy Land of automail technicians! I've always wanted to go there! Take me, take me, take me, take me!"

"Go by yourself!" Ed said.

"Who's pay -" Winry began, but Rei interrupted her.

"You can't come," the girl said. "It'll be too dangerous. Besides, your grandmother will be lonely without you."

"But…" Winry sighed. "Fine…But you have to buy me something, okay, Ed?"

Ed sighed, but nodded anyways. Winry smiled, waving good bye. "I need to get back to granny," she said, leaving.

"Wow," Al said. "I've never seen Winry change her mind so fast!"

* * *

"What are you going to do at Dublith?" Bella asked, waving bye to all the people at Central.

"I talked to brother about a bunch of stuff, but we thought we should go see teacher," Al said.

"Aargh…" Ed sighed. "We're definitely going to be killed…"

"Kill…" Bella looked disbelieving.

"Just what kind of person _is_ your sensei?" Rei asked.

"Sen…sei?" Bella, Ed, and Al looked confused.

Rei sighed. "I keep forgetting…I'm not home…" she looked sad for a moment before explaining. "Sensei means 'teacher' or, literally, 'one who has come before' in my people's language."

"Oh, like 'baka!'" Bella said.

"I knew it! I'm scared, brother!" Al returned to panicking.

"Be strong, little brother!"

"………" Rei and Bella just watched them panic.

* * *

hehe... -reveling in the panic- MWAHAHAHA! we are the all powerful hackers! -ignoring comments from the peanut gallery next to me- -cough- well, according to Ember-baka, we are the all powerful '.hack'ers...but w/e! 

so, as always...REVIEW! and send LOTS of death threats to Ember-baka-sama! (Ember: or PERISH! -maniacal laughing- -chokes on piece of fudge- )

so, for now...Kira and Ember-baka, signing off! -flashy lights-


	23. Chp 15 Part 1

hello, reader::fakey smile: did you have fun while i was gone? (Ember and Kirea::hiding in background:) yeah...

actually, i'm not mad...hah, i shoulda posted that already...sry, deprived readers! neways, there's a prewriten note for you, from the (stupid hacking) authoresses!

:evil grins:

* * *

Previouslywritten note:

* * *

Ember: Heyllo readers! Me and Kira-sama hope you are enjoying this fanfiction! But c'mon readers, REVIEW! You are making me and Kira-sama very sad, and then we take our anger out on nonexistent video game characters!

Kira: Hey Ember, can you beat this boss for me? –hands Ember controller-

Ember: -dies in game- OH YOU (edited out) SON OF A (edited out)(edited out)!

Kira: Ok, let's just get on with the story.

Ember: ALSO READ KIRA-SAMA'S CCS FANFICTION! Or I will hunt you down and dispose of you, oh pitiful reader…………. –threatens readers with plastic knife-

Kira: -sighs- she's always scaring the fans off………..

* * *

Warning Chapter 15 contains: Idiotic blonde alchemists, walking tins cans, hyper-active morons, emotionless angels, and insane adventures of Kira-sama and Ember.

* * *

"OH MY GOD! SHINEY THINGS!" Bella exclaimed. Her face was pressed against a shop window staring admiringly at all the treasures inside the shop.

"AHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in excitement. Rei glared at her from where she, Ed and Al were standing, watching the idiot enjoy herself.

"This ring is the latest item from Remis Jewelers!" she pointed to a ring inside the shop, "I never thought it would be in a town like this! And that!" She pointed to yet another piece of art. "That's the 'Fallen Angel's Love Potion'! and that's the Saint of Tears Statue and that's The Crown of Alice!"

"I don't think we should have stopped here Edward" Rei said, looking down at the ground and sighing. She ran her fingers through her hair, lifting her left bang and then letting it drop over her eye again. "Bella's gone insane with the stuff here."

Ed smiled and nodded. They both looked over at the hyper-active alchemist, jumping from shop to shop, awing the priceless treasures.

"Hey Edo!" Bella turned to them, "Can we buy some of this stuff!"

"No," Rei said rolling her eyes at her baka of a partner. "We aren't here to buy jewelry or pieces of art. Plus, you don't have the money to pay for any of this stuff." She put on a smirk and Bella's expression dropped

"Rush Valley!" Bella said, as they four teenagers walked through the town. "Known as the Automail Mecca. This place is like the Holy Land of Automail!" she said cheerfully.

"And you know this, how?" Rei asked, cocking and eyebrow. It wasn't everyday an idiot knew so much about one place.

"The mechanic who did automail surgery on me lives here." Bella replied. "I haven't seen him since then."

"Well maybe we should go visit him-" Ed started but he was interrupted by shouting behind him.

"Incredible! 51 straight wins! No way can you beat this guy!" The four teens turned to see a large crowd behind them. They pushed their way through the crowd to see a large, buff guy sitting at a table and a tall skinny guy standing in front of the table.

"Metallic Arm Wrestling Contest!" the skinny guy shouted in a commercial like voice. "Limited only to challengers with automail arms! Entry fee is 10,000 sens! Take home the pot if you can beat the champion!"

"Alright! I give it a shot!" one guy shouted, pushing his way to the table. Once the fight had started, he lost in a VERY quick defeat. The skinny man then looked over at Alphonse.

"How 'bout you big guy? You up for it?"

"Oh! No, no! Al protested, "I couldn't possibly..."

"Well how about you cutie?" the man leaned down to Rei. He stood back up, "Oh what am I thinking? A **little** girl like you wouldn't be able to take on such a **strong **man." he laughed. "Anyone else up for the challenge?"

Rei glared at the skinny man and reached into her obi (that's a sash for u morons) and pulled out some money and slammed it on the table.

"Oh," The skinny man replied, kinda surprised, "The girl's serious"

"Heh, this will be easy" the fat (laughs) man said.

"Angel!" Bella hissed in Rei's ear, "What the heck do you think your doing!"

"Kicking this guys ass now move." Rei said. She grabbed the guys arm roughly and grinned evilly at him. "Ready to get beaten by a girl?"

"You wish" was his response.

"READY! STEADY!" the skinny guy shouted, "GO!"

In less than a second, Rei had ripped the champions' **entire **arm off. Everyone's jaws dropped speechless. Except for Bella, who can never shut up.

"WHOOT! GO ANGEL!" Bella shouted.

"Oh I'm sorry" Rei said, with fake hurt in her voice, "Should I put this with the rest of the scrap?" The three other teens raced up to Rei.

"Wow Angel! How'd you do that!" Al asked. Ed motioned for Al to lean down.

"She used alchemy" he whispered so no one else would hear, "She changed his arm into a weaker substance than her own. Bella gasped.

"That's cheating!" She said, but then a playful grin formed across her face, "but I like it! HIGH FIVE!" She raised her hand but Rei didn't budge. "Oh fine meanie….."

"Hey," a person said, pointing to Rei's arm. I've never seen that kind of automail before. "Is it ok if I take a closer look?"

"If you want a look at good automail, attack those two" She said pointing to Edward and Bella.

"WHAT!" Both of them shouted.

"The girl's got a really light left arm with various blades in it, and the boy's got an arm and leg" Rei said.

Bella and Ed gulped as all the mechanics eyes gleamed with joy.

"What do we do!" Ed hissed.

"One thing"

"What's that?"  
"RUN LIKE HELL!" Both alchemists starting running with a mob of mechanics chasing after them.

"Lemme see your automail!"

"Come on, just a peek!"

Rei smiled wickedly at what she had done and glanced over at Al who sighed.

"We're gonna be here longer than I expected" He said.

"Eh, don't feel too bad. Ed had it coming." Rei replied.

_Minutes Later_

"Well, it seems this really is a Holy Land of Automail" Rei said, a smirk across her face. "Everyone's _so _devoted to their work."

"THAT'S NO REASON TO LET THEM STRIP ME TO MY UNDERWEAR!" Edward screamed as he gave her a glare from hell. Bella lay on the ground, exhausted, and her jacket ripped apart.

"That was my brother's………" she said. (She looks like this: TTTT)

"Haha Brother," Al said, "I don't think there's many state alchemists who strut around town in their underwear" He laughed. Edward glared at him harshly.

"You shouldn't be talking, brother dear, seeing as you only wear a **loincloth**!"

Al sulked into the background.

"It's not a loincloth…….."

"Hmph!" Ed pouted, putting his pants back on. (Ew, that sounds dirty….) He looked down to realize something missing. He panicked, searching his pockets for it.

"What the heck are you doing Ed?" Rei asked.

"It's gone!"

"What's gone?"

"My silver pocket watch! It's gone-"

"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" Bella screamed, interrupting him. Rei and Ed looked over at the panicking alchemist.

"What's wrong!" they asked in unison.

"Onii-chan's (Rei taught her a bit of Japanese) necklace! It's gone!" She said. She looked as though if she were about to cry. "That was the only thing I had left of onii-chan"

"It's ok, we'll find it" Ed said, comforting the other alchemist. Rei sighed at her partners and looked down at her wrist. She let out a small gasp. The bracelet that had always hung there was now gone. She narrowed her eyes and glared ahead.

"Hey pops, I got some valuable stuff for ya" Paninya said, dropping her spoils onto the counter of Glatz. Lying in front of the shopkeeper was a pocket watch, a bracelet and a necklace. The shopkeeper picked up the bracelet first and examined it. It was silver chain, with few extra chains hanging off here and there and in the middle was a large teardrop shaped sapphire.

"You've really outdone yourself this time Paninya. This bracelet could never compare to anything by Remis Jewelers." The shopkeeper said, setting the fragile bracelet down and picking up the next item.

This one was a dog tag made out of pure silver. The first plate had writing inscribed onto it, while the second had a small rose carved into it.

"Aubrey Wings……" The shopkeeper said, reading the inscription. "The work on this one is astounding. It may be just a dog tag, but this is very valuable." He set the necklace down and finally picked up the pocket watch.

"Edward Elric?" He said, looking at the back, then turning it over and tracing the six pointed star with his finger. "It has the military crest on here. I'm sure I have heard this name somewhere" He tugged on the lid of the watch.

"I can't open it" he said.

"Hmm… let me try" Paninya grabbed the watch and tugged on the lid. "Hmm….. maybe if I just wind it-"

"DON'T WIND IT!" Paninya and the shopkeeper turned to the door that had slammed open. Edward, Rei, Al and Bella were standing in the doorway, not too happy.

"Don't open it either……"

"Give us our stuff back you thief!" Bella shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Paninya.

"You do know you're being hypocritical Bella?" Rei asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Ah! Be quiet!" Bella crossed her arms and pouted.

"Hey scrimpy," Paninya said, grabbing her spoils and picking up a vase with her foot, "catch!" She tossed the vase in Ed's direction.

"Ah! That vase is worth 100,000,000 sens!" the shopkeeper shouted.

"WHOA!" Ed barely caught the vase as it flew over his head.

"Nice catch!" Paninya smiled as she jumped out the window and ran over the rooftops. Ed ran over to the window and stuck his head out.

"GET BACK HERE!" he shouted. He looked back into the shop. "C'mon, Angel, Bella, Al! Let's go!" He stumbled out the window and raced after Paninya.

_We are going to skip some of this so this chapter isn't so long. Thank you. _

Rei, Bella and Al watched from below as Ed chased Paninya around. The three alchemists **would** have helped _if_ they hadn't been lazy.

"This is taking too long." Rei mumbled angrily as she watched Paninya race by, Ed at her tail. She looked over at the brunette and grinned inwardly.

"Say Bella," she started, an evil gleam in her eye. "Why don't you catch Paninya for us?" Bella blinked at the angel.

"Me!" She pointed to herself, "You expect ME to catch her!"

"Once a thief, always a thief, and I promise I'll get you something" Rei grinned evilly at the young Ishbalan.

"Oh! OK!" The Ishbalan marched over to an alley and climbed her way up to the roof. "HEY EDO!" she shouted, drawing Fullmetal's attention away from the thief. Ed looked back at her and forgot to jump over the ledge to the next building.

"AHHHHHHHH!" he shrieked as he fell into a pile of trash bags. (Take that Edo-chan!)

"Sorry Edo!" Bella shouted as she jumped over the gap he had fallen from and chased after the other thief. She slapped her hands together and touched the ground ahead of her, transmuting a wall in front of Paninya.

Paninya stopped for a brief moment then turned around, only to be caught in a cage that was transmuted as soon as she took a step.

"Bwhahahaha, I've caught you now!" Bella said, advancing towards the trapped thief. "Now give us our stuff back!"

Paninya tapped on the bars of the cage and grinned to herself.

"Stand back" She said, taking a step back.

"Wha-" A blade had shot out of her right leg and cut the bars. "No way………"

"Whatcha looking at?" Paninya asked, grinning. "This _is_ Rush Valley." She started running away.

"WAIT!" Bella shouted running after her. In the process, she tripped and brought the other thief down with her.  
"Ah! Let go!" Paninya shouted back at the Ishbalan.

"Ah but wait!" Bella shouted, not letting the thief escape. "Who did your automail? Was it Dominic?" Paninya looked back and blinked.

"Um… yeah?"

"Ugh, they've been talking nonstop" Ed complained as the two thieves were still chatting. "SHUT UP ALREADY! Just give me back my pocket watch and let's go turn her in to the military!"

"Shut up Edo!" Bella shouted, glaring at him. She turned back to Paninya and said, "How about you give us our stuff back, and we don't turn you in?"

"What?" Ed shouted, but he was ignored.

"Sure!" Paninya said, dropping the stolen goods in Bella's hands. Bella took the necklace and put it back over her neck. She picked up the bracelet next.

"Here Angel! Catch!" She tossed it over to Rei, who caught it and put it back on her wrist.

"Ok, give me back my pocket watch Bella" Ed said angrily.

"No"

"What!"

"I'm keeping it for that comment you made" She stuck her tongue out at the shorter alchemist.

"Bella you jerkwad!"

_Hours Later……._

The four alchemists had followed Paninya through the mountains to Dominic's house.

"Yay! There it is!" Bella shouted. She followed Paninya up to the small house, Rei, Ed and Al behind her.

"Hiya!" Paninya said, waving inside. A man working on a piece of automail with glasses and a bandanna on his head looked towards her.

"Paninya? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I brought some guests!" She said gesturing towards the four alchemists that had walked in.

"Hi Lear!" Bella shouted. The man smiled.

"Haven't seen you for a while Bella" he said.

"Teehee" she grinned. "Oh! Lemme introduce you to my friends!" She pointed towards Rei, "This is Angel," Rei gave a small wave in acknowledgment. "And that's Ed and Al!" Bella pointed towards the Elric Brothers.

"WHOA HE'S TALL!" Lear shouted as he looked up at Al. He looked down at Ed and shouted, "AND HE'S TINY!"

Bella laughed at the screaming alchemist. Rei leaned over towards Bella.

"This is Dominic?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you said he was stingy?"

"Oh, no, that's his son, Lear" Bella replied, walking over to where another man was working with iron. "That's Dominic,"

The man turned to Bella and Rei.

"Gah, you're back? I thought I told you to get out!" he growled.

"I can't, I still haven't paid off the payments for my arm" Bella sweatdropped.

"I told you, I don't want your money!" Dominic continued to work with the iron.

"God," Bella rolled her eyes, "Still as stingy as ever."

Ed, Al and Rei were all standing by Sadila, Lear's wife, who was sitting in a chair.

"Wow, you're pregnant!" Ed exclaimed.

"That's so touching" Al responded. Lear smiled at them and rested his hands on the chair.

"She's due in half a month" he replied.

"It feels like it's getting heavier and heavier." Sadila sighed.

Rei smiled sweetly at Sadila, a rare emotion from the angels face, and said, "Life and love to you and your child" Sadila smiled back at the angel.

"Thank you for your blessing"

"Can I touch it?" Ed asked. Sadila smiled warmly at him.

"Sure go ahead."

Ed rested his hand on Sadila's stomach then pulled it away after a few seconds and grinned.

"First time I ever touched a pregnant woman's stomach" He said, beaming at her.

"Hopefully it will bring you good luck in giving birth to your baby" Al said.

"Thank you" Sadila said.

"We were just like that in mom's tummy…." Al said thoughtfully. Ed looked up at him.

"Yeah it's unbelievable" he replied.

"Yes," Sadila said, closing her eyes and resting her hands on her stomach. "Thinking how I have a little life inside of me, it's really unbelievable."

"That baby stays inside his mom for 280 days before coming out to the world!" Lear exclaimed.

"It's unbelievable. Nobody tells the baby but he comes out after 280 days" Sadila finished. "Even if he's tiny, he's still alive."

The three alchemists smiled, happy for the soon-to-be mother.

"Oh Edo!" Bella shouted from a table, sitting next to Dominic and Paninya.

"I'm getting a sinking feeling about this………" Edo muttered.

* * *

so...there ya go! part two may be out soon! 


	24. Chp 15 Part 2

-roflmao- o...m...g...hey, yeah, this is Kira! and yes, once again, I HACKED NIRI'S ACCOUNT! -maniacal laugh- haha...ne ways, ENJOY!

* * *

"Hmm…. Iron, 17 percent, Steel, 1 percent..." Ed was stripped down to his underwear(again) as Dominic examined his automail. 

"Winry said she wanted to increase the hardness and make it lighter, right Edo?" Bella asked him.

"How the heck do you remember these things!"

"I just do ok!"

"Correct, using his body as a comparison, the arm is too heavy for him." Dominic replied to Bella's first statement. "To the carrier, the stress is too much, perhaps that's why he is short for his age."

"SHORT! Wait- if I get lighter automail, I'll grow taller!" Edo asked.

"Perhaps…" Dominic replied.

"HA! I'll probably be WAY taller than you Bella! And you too Al!" Ed shouted, pointing towards them.

"There's no way you'll be taller than me Edo, you'll always me a shrimpie!" Bella shouted back. Rei grinned evilly as Ed continued to shout how he wasn't short.

"Anyways………" Dominic turned to Bella, "I told ya I'm not taking you're money, so get out here now and don't come back"

"No! We can't leave yet!" Ed shouted, clinging to Dominic's leg, "I need you to make me a lighter automail!"

"Forget it shrimp! Get lost!"

"Noooooooo! I'm not a shrimp! Please make me a lighter automail"

"Brother, get your pants back on!"

"Please!"

"Edo just shut up already! And get some clothes on……" Bella blushed.

"Why don't you all shut up?" Rei shouted.

"I'm sorry" Lear said after Ed had calmed down, although he was still glaring at Dominic. "My dad's pretty stubborn, you might as well give up"

Dominic sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, glaring angrily at the four alchemists.

"Now get out of my house now!" He shouted. Lightning crashed through the sky and Bella screamed at the top of her lungs. Out of pure fear, she jumped into the nearest person's arms and held on for dear life. Ed, being pounced on so suddenly, shrieked and fell over. Rei looked down at the two alchemists and stared at them weirdly.

"What the heck was that about?" She asked. Bella didn't respond and Rei sighed. After a few minutes, Bella let go of Ed and stood up, still shaking in fear.

"Bella? What happened? You acted as if someone was murdered" Al said. Bella looked down as a blush formed across her face.

"I… I'm kinda…….. deathly afraid of lightning……" Bella said quietly. She turned away from the other alchemists, ashamed, and looked outside.

"The rain's not stopping…" she said, changing the subject.

"When the rain stops, you can leave" Lear said, handing each alchemist a mug of hot chocolate.

"Unnn…." Paninya moaned. "My legs always ache when it rains."

"Say Paninya?" Ed asked "If Dominic won't take your money, why do you keep insisting on paying him?"

"He's done so much for me," was Paninya's response, "Even now he still does maintenance on me. It leaves me speechless."

"If you really want to repay Dominic you should stop being a thief!" Ed said, pointing an accusing finger at Paninya. Upon hearing this, Bella looked over at the chibi alchemist, hoping her wouldn't include her in this either.

"Same goes for you too Bella!"

"How did I know you were going to include me too?' Bella whined.

"But…. If I don't steal how am I gonna repay him?" Paninya asked.

After her long silence, the angel spoke up. "He gave you your legs Paninya and your arm, Bella sincerely. You should both be grateful and accept them. He gave you two your limbs so you could live happily. So living life to the fullest is the correct way to repay him." She paused, "Just like in alchemy, it's a fair trade"

Bella grinned at the angel.

"You're right Angel-chan. But just to warn you, old habits die hard"

"Anyways…….." Ed said, tugging on Al's arm, "Help me get Dominic to make me a lighter arm Al!" The elder brother literally dragged the younger one over to Dominic, yet again, getting cursed at by the mechanic.

"Oh," Bella said, reaching into her pocket and pulling something out, "I forgot to give Edo his pocket watch back." She traced the six-pointed star with her metal finger. "He said not to open it, but……." An evil grin was placed across her face as she violently tugged at the watch.

Rei leaned closer, curious about what was inside the blonde alchemists' military watch. Paninya looked closer as Bella continue to tug at him.

"That idiot, locking it with alchemy." She slapped her hands together. _I should stop her shouldn't I? _Rei thought, _……. Nah……_

The small flash of blue light disappeared and Bella pried open the watch with glee. With Rei and Paninya leaning over her shoulders, the three girls read the scratched writing on the inside of the pocket watch.

'Don't forget 3.Oct.11' is what inscribed inside Edward's watch.

A horrid memory of a house being burnt down flashed in the Ishbalans eyes. Men in navy blue military uniforms surrounding the house, killing off any survivors that lived. A teenaged boy and a young girl watched in horror from a safe place as their house was perished, along with their mother.

Bella shut the pocket watch slowly, not uttering a word. "We shouldn't have opened it……." She said softly after a long silence. A scream filled the silent house and all alchemists turned heads towards the room Sadila was in. Bella and Rei raced into her room, Paninya and Lear at their feet.

"Sadila!" Bella asked panicked, "What happened!" Lear bent down to his wife, holding her hand.

"I think….. it's time…" she managed to say.

"What now!" Lear shouted. Paninya and the two alchemists stared in shock.

"Are you sure?" Rei asked Sadila, "You said you weren't do until a week from now"

"Well the baby just said now" Sadila gritted her teeth.

"OMG! The baby's gonna be born!" Bella shouted, running in and out of the room. Dominic, having heard the Ishbalans' screaming, ran into the room, along with Ed and Al.

"**What did you say?**" all three shouted at once. Everyone started panicking, except for Rei and Sadila.

Dominic grabbed his coat and raced out the door to get the doctors

"Don't worry" Lear assured his wife, "The doctor will be here soon." Soon after he had said that Dominic had come back inside.

"The bridge……"

* * *

"The lightning must have destroyed the bridge….." Ed said, clapping his hands together. 

"That's not going to work," Rei told him, "It will fall under it's own weight."

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?" Bella shouted running in circles. "If only onii-chan were here!"

"I'm gonna have to take the longer way" Dominic told them. Soon after he left Paninya came out waving her arms around and shouting, "Ahhh Angel! Bella! Sadila's bleeding water! Lots of water!"

"Her water broke!" Bella shouted.

"What does that mean?" Ed asked, somewhat afraid.

"She's gonna give birth soon" Rei answered. Ed, Bella, Al and Paninya started running in circles panicking.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! The doctor's not gonna make it in time!" they all shouted. Rei sighed and grabbed Al by his ribbon and Bella by her hood with one hand, and Paninya's ponytail and Ed's braid in the other and dragged the panicking teens into the house.

"Lear come here!" Rei demanded as she let of Ed's braid last.

"Angel what are you going to do!" Bella asked as an apron was thrown towards her. Rei grabbed another apron and put it on herself.

"We're gonna deliver the baby" She replied, finishing typing the back and walking towards Sadila's room.

"What! We have no experience!" Bella shouted, racing after her and tying her apron on. "I mean sure, I read about it in onii-chan's books, but not like this!"

"We may have little experience, but we have to do what we can," Rei said quietly. "Ed! Al! Heat up some water!" She demanded

"How much!" Ed asked.

"The more the better, Lear, get some disinfectant and a pillow for Sadila, Bella you're coming with me"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh I'm not good with these kinds of things" Bella panicked. She gulped and followed the other alchemist inside.

"Good luck!" Ed and Al shouted towards them.

* * *

"Paninya…." Bella poked her head outta the room, "Can you help us?" Paninya nodded and walked into the room. The door shut and Ed and Al were left to sit outside and wait. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! IT HURTS!" Sadila screamed and Ed and Al started running outside, "I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA DIE!"

Ed and Al huddled in a corner, hugging their knees.

"Al, I'm scared….." Ed admitted.

"So am I brother….." Al told him. Ed sighed and stretched his legs out.

"I guess all we can do now is pray…….."

_

* * *

Minutes Later_

Paninya came out of the room, leaning on the doorway for support.

"Paninya!" Ed asked, getting up from his spot oh the floor. "W-what happened?"

"B-b-blood. L-lot's of blood….." Paninya stuttered, "I can't take this anymore….."

Ed and Al looked into the doorway to see both girls collapsed on the ground.

"Angel!" Al asked, helping the girl up, "What happened?" Rei pointed towards Lear holding the newborn baby in his hands and Sadila smiling happily.

"The…. The baby" Ed started, "IT'S OK! YEAH!" he cheered. Ed raced towards the door. "Hey Paninya? Afraid of a little blood?" he teased.

"Blood….. so much blood….." she shuddered.

"I'm so glad it turned out ok…." Bella finally said, still sitting on the floor with Ed and Al dancing in the background. "We should wash the baby now, right Rei?" Rei nodded and Lear went over to get a bath ready.

"That's so awesome! The baby was born!" Ed exclaimed "That is so awesome!"

"You keep saying awesome" Rei pointed out, "You're acting like a little kid, or like Bella a few minutes ago." She ignored the small glare Bella had given her after her comment.

"Because it's the birth of new life!" Ed told her, "It's taken centuries for alchemists to create new life, and they still haven't, but a woman can carry one in 280 days."

"Ya know Ed, by comparing it to alchemy, you take all the beauty out of it!" Bella scolded.

Ed scratched the back of his head and replied, "Umm…. Sorry! Professional interest….., but it's still wonderful. Humans are really awesome." He crossed his arms and grinned.

"Ya know, you two were really awesome two. You guys helped deliver a baby without an experience!"

"Ed….?" Bella asked, tugging on his shirt.

"Hmm..?"

"Can you help me up? I was so relieved my legs gave out…."

* * *

"This is so embarrassing," Bella said as Ed carried her on his back, "I'm being carried by a guy shorter than me. My feet almost reach the ground." 

"Shut up before I drop you." He replied angrily. "Hmph…." He grabbed the chair to set her down in.

"Hey Edo…." Bella asked, putting her head down. "What happened on October 3, year 11?" Ed dropped her instantly and she hit the floor hard.

"Ow… Ed…" Bella groaned, rubbing her head.

"How do you know about that!" Ed shouted.

"I opened your pocket watch…….. I know you said not to but-" Bella started, looking at the ground shamefully.

"How dare you open it!" the blonde shouted at the Ishbalan.

"I'm sorry…" Bella said, a lot quieter than her normal self would and Ed noticed. He looked to his feet somewhat ashamed for yelling at her.

"Just listen to me next time, ok?" he said, pushing his guilt away and letting his stubbornness take over. Bella looked relieved, but Ed could tell she was still curious.

"Will you te-," she started, but Ed cut her off.

"No…" he said instinctively. Then his tone softened as she looked ashamed once again. "I wrote it in there because I wrote it in there. Just drop it," he said.

Bella rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed at his secretivety. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because you wouldn't even care, you'd probably think it's stupid that I tell myself to remember that date," he said harshly.

"Why wouldn't I care? You're one of my best friends," she said. On the inside Ed was grinning like a fool, but he hid it well with a sigh as he sat down next to her, right where she had fallen.

"Look, it's the day I burned down my house so I could never go back and the day I became a state alchemist," he said hastily.

"Why'd you burn it down?"

Ed looked down and sighed. "So that I'd never have a place to go to, to stop searching for the Philosopher's stone, to restore Al's body." She looked away, suddenly guilty to have brought up such a touchy subject, when things were already awkward after that first kiss.

"Sorry, I just thought it was a weird coincidence, I was just curious," she said.

"Coincidence?" Ed asked her, now curious himself.

"October 3rd, year 11……. Our house was raided by military men…. And burnt to the ground….. my mother," She paused, "she perished along with it…." There was silence for a long time until Ed spoke again.

"Sorry…" he mumbled, but Bella shook her head.

"Whatever, it's fine, you didn't know…" she said, and the two sat there together for a while.

_

* * *

The Next Day_ (Readers: WTF! Ember-baka: oh hush. I've been having serious writers block Kira-sama: -sighs-)

"So you guys heading to Dublith?" Paninya asked, escorting the four alchemists back towards the train station

"Yes" Rei replied, "But our train doesn't leave until another hour.

"What!" Ed shouted, "What are we going to do for a whole hour!

"Oh!" Bella spoke up, "Angel-chan, you still owe me for getting you your bracelet back. What do I get!" Bella's eyes sparkled in excitement

Rei looked over at the shops and something caught her eye.

"Come with me" she said, walking over to the small shop

"Oh! I bet I'm gonna get something real cool!" Bella squealed, following the other alchemist

As Bella was blabbing on, Rei looked up at the board and asked the owner for something

"Here you go" Rei said, pointing towards a bowl of hot ramen and held out chopsticks to Bella

"What the heck is this!" Bella shouted

"It's ramen. You'll like it" Rei said, shoving the chopsticks in Bella's hands

Bella looked at the chopsticks curiously and put on in each hand and stabbed a noodle with it. "HAHA!

Rei sighed. "That's not how you use it you moron.

Ed laughed from behind Rei. "I don't think she cares" he pointed to Bella happily eating the ramen

"Ah Angel-chan this is so good!" Bella cheered as another bowl was placed in front of her

Ed grabbed Bella's arm and dragged her off the chair before she could 'attack' the next bowl

"If we let you eat more, we're gonna be here all day" he said

"Ah no! But I want more! Let me go Edo!" Bella screamed. "NO! I want the ramen!"

The four alchemists walked off, heading for their train as they waved goodbye to Paninya. Little did any of them know, a pair of magenta eyes were following every move they took.

* * *

A hand pushed a pair of sunglasses up to cover the magenta eyes and then ran through silky light purple hair. 

A boy, about average height, stood by a phone booth. His luscious purple hair that reached the boys mid-neck, while longer pieces in front of his ears fell past his shoulders. and abnormal magenta eyes stuck out in the crowd, but nobody seemed to take notice. He wore a black shirt, with a collar covering his neck and a large zipper hanging from the top. His pants were also black, and made out of a shiny, silky fabric.

The boy took hold of the phone and dialed a number. As he waited for someone to pick up, he dug a small book, about the size of his hand, out of his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Shoko Ryuu, is the Colonel there?" The boy asked, thumbing through the pages of the book.

"I'm sorry, the Colonel is very busy Mr. Ryuu. Would you like to talk to her-"

"Put me to her now. I have important information that she would probably love to hear."

"Please hold a second Mr. Ryuu" the boy waited as his call was put up to the Colonel.

"What do you want now Shoko?" a female voice asked from the other line.

"Hi Miss Colonel," the boy said, grinning, trying to hold in anger, "I've got some great news for ya."

"It better have not be another mislead, like the others, Shoko"

"Would ya stop calling me that? I told you to call me Ryuu…. Anyways, I've found three alchemists. State alchemists to be exact," He said grinning again.

"Go on…" The woman urged him, seeming more interested now that he mentioned state alchemists.

The boy found the page he was looking for and read from it.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. Age: 15, Eye Color: Golden, Hair Color: Golden, Youngest state alchemist to join the military. He joined at age twelve. From what I have dug up, he had done human transmutation on his dead mother, thus causing his younger brother, Alphonse Elric, age 14, to loose his entire body. Alphonse is nothing but a living suit of armor now."

"Ah, so you've found the famous Fullmetal have you? Who else is there? Hmm?"

The boy flipped back a few pages and stopped.

"Angel's Daughter Alchemist Reian, Age: 15, Eye color: deep blue-green, Hair color: light brown, with golden streaks in them. Edward is believed to be the youngest state alchemist, but Reian had joined the year, right before him. At age 11. A bit suspicious don't you think? Colonel Roy Mustang of the Amestris military had partnered her up many times, thus resulting most of her partners to end up in the hospital. Recent updates are she has a new partner, which has lasted longer than most."

"Go on…."

"Devil's Angel alchemist, Bellator Wings, Age: 15 Eye color: blue, but they are really red, considering she is an Ishbalan, Hair color: Light brown. She joined the military this year after she had been turned in for thievery in Central. Military commands still don't know she is an Ishbalan. Goes ta show ya how stupid they are, eh Colonel? Anyways, she is Reian's new partner, and has lasted longer than most. I don't have much information on her, considering she's new to the military, and also because she is from Ishbal."

There was slight snickering from the other end of the phone.

"You've outdone yourself Shoko. I'm impressed."

"Thank you ma'am" He replied.

"I want you to become friends with them and find out more information about the military of Amestris and what they are up to."

"All clear ma'am" Ryuu smiled wickedly.

"Goodbye, and don't fail me Shoko"

"Would I ever fail you?" The Colonel hung up on him and he put the phone back on the receiver.

"Hmmmm heading to Dublith are they?" He muttered to himself, examining the leaving train. He put his book back into his pocket and pulled his sunglasses off.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, you are mine…." He walked forward, dropping his sunglasses in the process, and stepping on them. When he heard the crack, he lifted up his foot, looking down at the broken glass.

"AH FUCK!" he literally screamed as passersby gave him peculiar stares.

**

* * *

Name**: Shoko Ryuu (prefers to be called Ryuu)

**Age**: 15, almost 16

**Eye Color**: Magenta  
**Hair Color**: Light Purple  
**Personality**: Very smart and somewhat of a goofball, can be perverted at times.   
**Country**: Creta  
**Military Status**: 1st Lieutenant  
**Background**: Lost his family in military affairs with the country of Amestris. Joined the military of Creta and works as a spy for them. What the military of Creta wants with State Alchemists is still a mystery and won't be revealed for a long time! So HAHA!  
**Alchemy**: Yes. He is an Elemental Master, thus being able to control all the elements with his alchemy, but he has to use different transmutation circles for each element. He has a set of gloves for each element. Like blue for water and black for darkness.  
**Automail**: Unless a crazy fangirl requests for him to have a metal butt –eyes a friend- then no automail. Haha! Someone normal!  
**How he came to be**: Ember-baka was drawing a VERY random comic with the WTBW characters in it, and decided to add some random guy u was trying to kidnap Rei, but kidnapped Bella instead.(Haha, how do u mix up an idiot with someone smart?) Kira-sama thought it was funny and said "It'd be funny if we actually put him in the real story" so VIOLA! WE HAVE RYUU! And our friend Faith made up a cute nickname for him! -- we call him….. –drum roll- SHOKOBO! Just like Chocobos! Hahaha!

* * *

-roflmao- as u noticed, people are starting to curse...wonder why? -glances pointedly at Ember-baka, who is laughing maniacally as she ruins our characters' lives- -shudders- and now she's obsessing over an Armstrong keychain, cause it looks creepy... 

ne ways...REVIEW! or the Baka to Ahou to Busu (mi new name for Ember-baka -grins- will kill u with a plastic knife!

Ember-baka: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I KILLED SORA!

...-sighs- that's the fifteenth time...-shakes head in shame- ne ways, chappie 16 will be out soon! (probably cause i finished it before Ember finished this chapter...-rolls eyes-)


	25. Chp 16

Kira here (still!)! ne ways...as you may guess, after reading ohh...two lines? this is not part of the normal storyline! it is a totally original idea, made up by me and Ember-baka...so...-blinks- -mock sobs- PLEASE DON'T FLAME IT! -grins- actually, as far as i kno...Ember-baka's still waiting for a death threat. SO WILL SOMEONE PLZ SEND ONE FOR HER! she's killing me! -pleading-

Enjoy!

* * *

Bella yawned, staring boredly out the window. The scenery flew by as the train rolled along, carrying them slowly to their destination…_very_ slowly. 

"Damn..." she sighed. "Could this train get any _damn_ slower!"

Ed was asleep (luckily) across from the Ishbalan thief, leaning against the window. Snoring, he flopped over, his head resting on Rei's, which had been on his shoulder. A frown flitted across Bella's face, but she hid it before Al saw.

Despite her deftness, Al asked, "Is something wrong?" Of the others, he was the only one awake.

Grinning, she replied, "Of _course_ not! We're going _oh_ so fast, and we're _sooooo_ close to whatever 'middle-of-fricking-nowhere' place we're going to. So of _course_ nothing's wrong!" She plastered a sickly sweet smile on her face.

Al sighed. "You're right. We have been on the train for quite a while…" Looking at the brunette alchemist, he said, "You know, if you're tired, you can sleep. We'll be here for a long time; you may want to get comfortable."

Bella sighed, looking back outside. "Nah…I've already had a nap." Sighing again, she glared at passing landmarks.

Eventually, she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, the train was coming to an abrupt halt. Rei and Ed had been facing the back, so when the train stopped, they flew forward.

"Omph!" Bella winced as Ed landed on her. Al was a little quicker, and gently caught Rei.

"Huh?" Ed sat up, rubbing his eyes. He seemed not to see that he was sitting in Bella's lap, instead glancing around. "Are we already there?"

Al laughed, careful not to wake Rei. "Big brother…" he pointed to the blushing Bella.

"Huh? …Ah…" he blushed bright red, quickly jumping backwards. Al laughed, and Rei started to wake up.

"Heya Angel-chan!" Bella said a little too cheerfully. "You missed all the action!"

Rei glared slightly, muttering, "I don't think I want to know…"

Ed hid his blush, saying, "Yeah, you don't…"

Bella looked around. "Hey…the train started again."

"Yeah…" Al looked out the window. "Wait…" he saw the surrounding seats. "There's no one else on the train."

"Really?" Bella and Ed looked around. "Cool!" Bella ran up and down the center of the train, screaming random things.

Rei sighed. "Baka renkinjutsushi," she sighed.

Bella cocked her head stupidly. "………What's 'ren ken joot sushi' mean?"

At the angry look in Rei's normally dead eyes, Bella hid behind Ed. "It means 'alchemist'…" Rei sighed.

"OOOOOhhhhhhhhhh," Bella said.

Al and Ed laughed at her naïve stupidity. She shrugged, not caring all too much, and resumed her 'patrol' of the aisle way.

After about…three hours, she got bored, falling tiredly onto the seat next Ed. Rei had fallen asleep again, leaning on Al; her face was slightly flushed, but Bella attributed it to her embarrassment at being partnered with an idiot. She tilted her head back, looking upside-down out the window.

"Hey…" she said. "Isn't wherever we're going in a _forest_ or something like that?"

"No," Al said. "But the land's pretty green around it."

"Yeah…" Bella said thoughtfully (ha! an idiot thinks!). "Then…why are we in the middle of a _desert_?"

Ed and Al swung their heads around to look out the window. For as far as they could see, hot sand covered what should have been rolling green hills. No life could be seen on the flat land.

"Uh…" Ed looked annoyed. "I think we should talk to the conductor." He stood up, and was about to complete his plan, when a loud crash interrupted him.

The next few minutes were hectic. None of the young alchemists remembered it in anything other than flashes. Red light blinded them, and they were all thrown in separate directions.

* * *

"Al! Edo!" Bella screamed as she watched her friends fly through the air. "ANGEL-CHAN!" A hard object hit her head, and she passed out.

* * *

Ed met the ground rather hard, knocking the wind out of him. "Ow…" he looked up, to see two figures flying through the air. "Angel! AL!" He clutched his chest as a piece of burning debris knocked him over again. He heard two distinct _crack_s and fainted as the pain overcame him.

* * *

Al didn't fly very far. He had attempted to hold on to Rei, to soften the blow, but something knocked her out of his arms. "BROTHER!" he called, looking around. He was unaffected by the rapid shifts in gravitational orientation and the sudden crashes, and quickly sat up. "Angel, Bella!" He stood up, and was quickly knocked over by a large piece of debris. "Shoot…" he attempted to shove it off, but it seemed the entire train had landed on him. His arms were pinned; he couldn't reach his pouch of chalk to transmute whatever it was that trapped him.

* * *

The sudden lack of oxygen was what woke Rei up more than anything. Most people would have found waking up to clear sky and far-off ground rather disconcerting; Rei, however, merely shut her eyes, concentrating on something. A ball of white light appeared on her back as she bent forward.

* * *

A sharp pain on the back of her head woke Bella up. She sat up, rubbing her head, muttering, "Damn…that hurt…" She looked around again, and noticed a papery object nearby. Picking it up, she glared. "A book…?" She looked at the cover, but she couldn't read, nor did she recognize the odd characters on the front. "Angel-chan would be able to read it," she decided. Standing up, she searched for a familiar face. "Edward!" she called, desperate to find _some_ semblance of familiarity. "Al! Angel-chan…?" she sighed, sitting back down. "Oh well…if I looked for them, I'd get lost." She grinned. "So I have every right to do absolutely nothing!"

* * *

Ed sat up slowly, holding his chest gingerly. "I guess Winry was right for once…I need to stop getting myself hurt…" He looked around, and saw a slightly familiar figure over to his left. He stood up, totally forgetting his 'minor' injuries, and ran over to Bella. 

"Hey!" he called out. "Bella!"

The figure turned around. "Edo!" Bella shouted, standing up and dropping something in the process. She ran over to him, jumping up and glomping him.

"Un…" Ed winced, and Bella let go.

"Something wrong?" she asked with her (annoyingly) naïve idiocy.

"N-no!" Ed assured her, wincing again. "H-hey! W-we should look for Al and Angel."

"Oh yeah!" Bella said idiotically. "Let's look…" she glanced around, and bent over to pick up the object she had dropped earlier. "Over there!" she pointed at a looming object in the distance.

Despite the apparent distance, their random destination wasn't all that far away. Upon 'arrival', Bella sighed. "They're not here…" she complained. Groaning, she sat down on a rather shiny object, not really paying attention.

"Mmmm mm mmm!" a slightly familiar voice said.

"Huh?" Bella looked around.

"Al?" Ed asked.

Bella's 'seat' shifted, and she sprang up.

"Hey big brother, Bella!" Al said happily.

"Heya Aru!" Bella waved.

"Al!" Ed knelt down next to his brother. "How'd you get stuck under the train?"

"Oh…so it _was _the train," Al sighed. "Hey, big brother…could you get this off me? I'm kinda stuck…"

Ed clapped his hands together, transmuting the train into a twenty foot pole. Al sat up, and noticed the lack of a certain female alchemist…

"Hey, where's Angel?" he asked, a slight panic in his voice.

"We haven't found her yet," Bella said. "Course, we only just started looking."

"Oh…" Al looked sad.

"Well, let's get looking!" Ed stood up. He hadn't moved more than a centimeter before he fell over, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Big brother!" Al shouted. "What happened?"

"I dunno," the blonde alchemist said.

"You lied!" Bella pouted. "Earlier, you said nothing was wrong. You lied!"

"Uhhhhhhh…." Ed looked slightly nervous. "Uhh…yeah?"

Bella whacked him on the head. "You dumbass!"

"Oww!" Ed clutched his head. "Don't hurt injured people!"

"Brother, Bella…please stop fighting! We need to find Angel!"

"Angel-chan? No, she's right there," Bella pointed to the top of the pole.

"Really?" Ed and Al looked up. There, at the top of the pole, was Rei, just as Bella had said. Huge, magnificent feathered wings were on her back; the left was pure white, like snow, and the right was black, like the night.

"How'd you know she was up there?" Al asked.

"Uhh…" Bella scratched her head. "I dunno…it was like a voice in my head just _told_ me."

"Hey…I get your second name now," Ed smiled up at the angel. "It's cause of your wings."

"Awwww, Angel-chan, can you _please _come down?" Bella complained. "My neck hurts when I have to look up at you. And the sun's kinda bright…"

Rei jumped off, flying down gracefully. She landed, folding her wings to her back. "Actually…" she said quietly to Ed, "they're not entirely the reason why. I've never told anyone about them."

"Then…" Ed looked confused.

Rei looked across the heat-washed land, a sad, lost look in her eyes. "It's…" she shut her eyes, looking down. "My mom…was a State Alchemist. She…was forced to fight in the Ishbalan Massacre," she sent a significant look to Bella, "but…" she smirked. "She…had a tendency to…_mess_ with her orders."

"What was her second name?" Ed asked curiously. "Any alchemist I would have heard of?"

Rei looked like she was tempted not to answer, and Bella instantly interrupted. "You've kept silent long enough, Angel-chan," she pleaded. "C'mon, we've told you stuff about our pasts; can't you trust us a little more?" She ignored the little voice that said she couldn't really say that, what with everything she hadn't told the others.

"…The 'Angel's Light Alchemist'," Rei whispered, her eyes shut. "Skills: mind control, normal alchemy, and…" she opened her eyes, her pain at the forced memories obvious.

"Wow…" Bella's eyes widened. "I've heard of her…" Her eyes shone with awe. "During the war…she managed to slow the slaughter of m- of the Ishbalans, even if it was only a bit."

Rei nodded slowly. "You know…" she looked oddly at Bella. "Don't deny who you are," she said. "I know who you are."

"H-huh!" Bella said. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"You weren't going to say 'the slaughter of the Ishbalans' until you remembered I was here. You would have said 'the slaughter of my people', right?"

"N-no!" Bella denied it. _Shit…how'd she figure out?_

"You're pretty obvious," Rei said, answering Bella's thoughts. "It wasn't hard to figure out."

(Comments from the authoresses: Ember-baka: Bella, Rei knows, just live with it! Kira: …idiot… Ember-baka: the square root of 11 is 62! –squealing- Kira: …help?)

Bella gasped. "Hey! How'd you read my mind?" (Ember: -mimicking Bella- I'm supposed to be the one who does that!)

"I didn't have to," Rei smirked. "You're so simple, I could read it on your face."

(Ed and Al: HEY! What about us? Kira: who cares? Ember-baka: yeah! –sticks out tongue- -falls off cliff- Everyone else: YAY! Ember-baka: YAY! Kira: …-shrugs- I rest my case: she's an idiot)

"Damn…" Bella muttered.

Ed sighed, getting tired of their 'argument'. "Bella, just admit it…me 'n Al know, and she's…" he gulped, his eyes wide, "smarter than us. She's probably known forever."

"Ah, fuck!" Bella screamed. Her voice echoed across the plains.

Rei slammed her hands over her ears. "Please…quiet down…" she practically whispered. "I have sensitive hearing."

"Ah, whoops," Bella looked embarrassed. "Sorry."

Ed picked up the book Bella had dropped earlier. "Hey, Bella, where'd you find this?" he asked.

"Oh," she grabbed it. "It hit me on the head when the train blew up."

A few moments passed in silence before she freaked out.

"OMFG! THE TRAIN BLEW UP! WE'RE TRAPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!" she screamed, running in circles.

Ed fell over laughing, and Al couldn't help but laugh too. Rei smirked again.

"Ah…" Ed clutched his ribcage. "I forgot…"

"Dumbass!" Bella hit him on the head again. "Stop hurting yourself!" she continued to hit him.

Rei sighed, stepping forward. "Move over baka to ahou," she knelt next to the idiot blonde. "Take off your shirt," she ordered (Bella and Ember-baka: -nosebleed-).

"Wh-what!" Ed all but screamed, blushing insanely.

Rei raised an eyebrow. "Pervert," she muttered. "Healing works better when there's less stuff to block it," she sighed, as if explaining it to a young child.

"Oh," Ed said. He took off his shirt, blushing even more at the fact that there were _two_ girls nearby.

"This is gonna hurt," she warned, then clapped her hands together. Pulling them apart slightly, a ball of white-green light appeared between them. She rested her hands on Ed's chest (Ember-baka: OMG! HOW DARE SHE TOUCH MY MAN! Kira: -sigh- -locks baka authoress up in lamp store- Ember-baka: OMFG! LAMPS! –screams like a little girl- Kira: -laughing at Baka-kun's…ah…situation-). The light spread out, covering his whole side. As it spread, Ed could feel a cool, soothing wave cover the pain. His eyes widened.

"That…that's not alchemy," he said when Rei was done.

"No," the girl said. She sat back on her heels with a sigh. "Don't talk," she warned, as Ed started to say something else. "Most of the energy that comes from that was taken from your body, so you'll be a little weak for a while. All I really did was realign your ribs and speed up the time around the breaks, so…" she grinned, an evil light in her eyes, "you'll be feeling like months have gone by for a while."

Ed groaned. "Just great…."

Bella picked up the book again. "Hey, Angel-chan, can you read this?"

Rei took the book from Bella's hands. She looked at the cover for a moment, her eyes not revealing anything. Opening it, she flipped around, occasionally scanning a page. "…Yes, I can," she said eventually. Her eyes were disturbed, as if what she had read was not pleasant.

"We should get out of this heat," Ed said, ignoring Rei's warning. "Does _anyone_ know where the _hell_ we are?"

Al stood up, helping Bella and Ed up as well. Rei stood by herself, looking around thoughtfully.

Rei and Bella both span around to face the same direction, and odd look on their faces. "What the…" Bella complained.

"…" Rei's eyes were thoughtful as she scanned the distant horizon.

"What?" Ed asked impatiently.

"Shhhhh," Al quieted his brother. "They might have seen something."

"…This presence…!" Rei muttered.

"?" Bella looked at Rei. "You felt it too?"

Rei nodded. (Random authoress thoughts: Ember-baka: OMG! IT'S KIRA-SAMA'S LONGEST SENTENCE EVA! Kira: …does anyone remember why I got partnered with the idiot?)

Bella stared at the horizon, her head tilted confusedly. "I dunno…I feel…like there's something _calling_ me over there."

"Well then," Ed started walking. "Let's follow it! We've got nothing else to do."

One by one, they followed him, the blind leading the blind to an invisible destination.

* * *

They didn't know how far they had walked when a looming shadow appeared up ahead. Seeing it, Bella instantly freaked out. 

"YES! SHADE! WE CAN GET OUT OF THIS GOD-FORSAKEN WASTELAND!" she ran ahead.

Ed ran with her, just as eager to get out of the blinding sunlight. Rei and Al followed at a slower pace, content with watching the two other alchemists make fools of themselves.

"Hey…" Ed looked around, searching for a door. "Stupid wall," he muttered, clapping his hands together. He placed them on the wall, but nothing happened. "What!" he screamed. He tried again and again and again, only to fail every time.

"Hahaha! The 'great Fullmetal' can't even transmute a door!" Bella taunted. She clapped her hands as well, mimicking Ed's movements.

A few silent moments passed.

"WHAT!"

"Jeez, Bella, shut _up_!" Rei shouted at her idiotic partner.

Bella ignored her. "WTH!" she ran in circles, screaming random insanities.

Al and Rei sighed, sweatdropping. Rei looked around, her sharp eyes picking up on the small details that decorated the wall.

Ed pouted. "What the hell? Why can't I transmute the wall!" He looked at his brother, asking, "Hey, Al, can you try?"

"Sure," Al drew a simple transmutation circle on the wall. He was about to set his hands on it, when Rei stopped him.

"Try here," she pointed to an odd series of scratches on the wall. She brushed away some of the sand and dust that had built up on the wall, and Al could see there was an odd transmutation circle, engraved in the wall.

"Okay," Al placed his hands in the center. The circle glowed with white light, and an archway appeared off to his right.

"Hey, Bella!" Ed called, seeing this. "C'mon, we're going in!"

"Oro?" she said, looking over. "Awesome!"

And so, our heroes (Ember: WTF! BELLA AND REI ARE GIRLS! THEY'D BE HEROINES! Kira: -sigh- if you weren't always stealing the laptop, I might be able to finish it. Ember: … Kira: finally, SILENCE!) and heroines entered the ruins.

"Wow…" Ed looked around. "This is big…"

The ceiling was arched, arcing back down over a hundred feet above their heads. A single crystal hung from the center, emitting a soft white glow that lit the entire ballroom. Other than that, nothing decorated the room; it was completely empty, void of any life.

The four alchemists walked further in, marveling at the magnificence of the giant room.

"This place is _giant_!" Bella said stupidly.

Al and Rei walked around, looking at everything. As they neared the center of the room, Al froze. Rei looked over her shoulder at him.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked, spinning around as if she were dancing.

"I-I can't move!" Al said frightened. "My feet won't move!"

"Haha!" Bella taunted. "Aru got stu-uck, Aru got stu-uck," she sang.

"Hey, Al," Ed ran over from the other side of the room. He tripped over something, falling flat on his face. "Oww…" he moaned. (Ember-baka: HAHA! TAKE THAT, EDO-CHAN! –laughs like a maniac- Kira: …I give up…)

"Hahahahahaha!" Bella laughed, rolling on the floor. "What happened to the 'Great and All-Powerful Fullmetal'?" she teased, jumping up. "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!" she sang, randomly running around the room.

"Bella," Rei warned, but the baka alchemists ignored her.

"OWWWWWWW!" Bella slammed into the floor. "WTF!"

Ed started laughing as he attempted to sit up. "Haha, what happened to the 'Great and All-Powerful Devil's Angel'?" he mimicked her.

"Shut up, Blondie!" she complained.

"Uh, big brother, Bella?" Al said. "Please stop fighting…we need to figure out how to get out of here."

"Damn…" Bella sighed, still lying on the floor. "STUPID DAMN TRIPPY-THINGIES!" she screamed, pounding the floor with her fists like a little kid in a temper tantrum.

Edward sighed. "God damned…whatever this is!" he banged his head on the floor.

"Big brother!" Al shouted. "Don't hurt yourself!"

Rei just listened to them fight, looking at the odd carvings on the floor beneath her feet. "This is…!" she whispered in shock.

"CURSE YOU, YOU…ah…" Bella thought for a bit, "CURSE YOU, YOU BALLROOM!"

"This isn't a ballroom," Rei said, grinning evilly. "It's a tomb…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

JK! HAHA, WE TRICKED YOU! –authoresses laugh maniacally-

"This isn't a ballroom," Rei said, shock evident on her face as she slowly backed up. "It's a transmutation circle…"

She took another step, and the panel under her feet lit up. A sad blue teardrop shone brightly beneath her feet, giving her clothes an azure tint. A few seconds later, a stubborn red flame appeared on the platform that had tripped Bella, and she stood up, her eyes wide.

"What…the…hell…?" she asked no one in particular.

Two wavy, calm, light green lines reflected off of Al's armor as he gasped in shock. "B-big brother!" he called out in fear.

Ed was the last to stand. A warm brown glow in the shape of what appeared to be a rock came from the floor beneath him, altering the colors of everything else.

Oddly enough, no one panicked beyond that. Bella stared, wide-eyed, as white lines connected the four pillars of light, but no random comments came to her. Al didn't seem to react after his last declaration, as the green light calmed him down. Ed moved as if to cover his eyes in an attempt to block the light, but it dimmed before he was done. Rei merely stood there, her eyes closed, totally relaxed in her blue pillar.

As they watched, the white light formed a complex transmutation circle, complete with various characters and intricate designs. A similar transmutation circle appeared on the ceiling, far above their heads, and on the walls around them, making the room appear completely white. The brightness grew, and Bella saw Ed and Rei collapse to the ground before everything turned black.

* * *

Ed awoke to a blinding brightness. "Unnnn…" he groaned, sitting up. He looked around, surprised to see they were no longer in the transmutation room. "Where are we?" he asked the air, blinking. He was on a wide bench, covered by his jacket, at what appeared to be a train station…but he wasn't sure. "Hey, Bella!" he shook the alchemists next to him. "Wake up!" 

"No…." she moaned, digging her head into Ed's chest. "Five more minutes…"

Ed blushed bright red. "C-c'mon, Bella, wake up," he shook her a little harder, trying to get her to move before anyone saw.

"No…" she clung to his shirt.

Ed swore he could feel steam coming out of his ears. "C-come on," he tried to shove her off.

She only clung tighter, and Ed heard a soft laugh from behind him. Spinning his head around, he saw Rei, dressed in a new kimono. This one was white, with a slight bluish tint near the ends of her sleeves and at the bottom hem, and the sleeves hung off her shoulders. One dark, ash-silver ribbon was tied around her neck, and another held the end of her braid. Her obi was the same ash-silver as the ribbons, and her boots were the same white as before, but seemed more like fabric this time than actual shoes. More ribbons were tied around them, holding them up. The sleeves weren't as long as on her previous one; now, they reached just past her elbows, leaving her hands free. Fingerless gloves in the same ash-silver as everything else reached up to her shoulder, where they connected with a tight, black shirt underneath the kimono. Her bracelet was on her left wrist, bright silver against glossy black.

Ed's jaw dropped. "Wow…" he said, totally forgetting Bella.

Rei's eyebrows rose. "What?" she said, her head tilted, a question in her eyes.

"N-nothing," Ed stuttered. (Kira: haha, poor Edo…he's stuttering about everything! Ember-baka: aww, he loves her… -laughing like a maniac- Kira:…ur not mad…-blinks in shock- and to think, just…-counts lines- however many lines ago, she was freaking because Rei touched him…-shakes head in amazement- Ember-baka: wait – EYES OFF MI MAN! Kira: …nm)

Bella stirred, finally waking up. "Huh…?" she rubbed her eyes, looking around. She saw Ed next to her, well, saw him _right in front of her_, and froze. She lay there for a few moments, staring at Ed's shirt, then her hands clutching Ed's shirt, then back to Ed's shirt. A blush instantly darkened her cheeks, and she screamed silently.

Ed couldn't help but smirk. "What, gonna let go now?" he teased.

Bella jumped back, sitting on the floor. "Of course!" she replied indignantly, trying to hide her blush.

"Come on, idiots, get up," Rei sighed. "Our train leaves soon; we don't want to miss it."

"Hey…" Ed looked around. "Where's Al?"

"Yeah…" Bella blinked. "I haven't seen him either."

Rei grinned. "C'mon, let's go; you'll see soon enough."

Ed and Bella sighed, standing up. "Where are we heading again?" Bella asked boredly. "And why a _train_? Remember last time? It _crashed_."

"Would you rather walk?" Rei offered. "Besides, last time was a fluke; there wasn't anyone driving. The conductor and the rest of the passengers had gotten off when the train stopped, and it wasn't due to make another trip until yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Ed asked, his eyes widening in shock. "Then..."

"Yep," Rei smirked back at the two idiots. "You've been out for two days."

"WHHHAAAAAAAAT!" Bella and Ed screamed.

"Bella! Big brother!" Al shouted. "Hurry up!" He was standing on the back of the departing train.

"Damnit!" Bella and Ed cursed, running after the train.

"Wait up, stupid pile of junk!" Bella screamed, jumping over and grabbing Al's hand. Ed followed suit, and they turned back to help Rei.

"C'mon, Angel-chan!" Bella reached her hand out. Rei jumped forward, landing on the railing and almost falling off. Bella grabbed her hand before she fell, and Rei slid down.

Ed sighed. "I think I'm tired of deserts…" he complained.

"Me too," Bella said. They walked inside and sat down in one of the booths. "Well, at least that's over," she said.

Ed looked over to her. "Do you remember what happened?" he asked, leaning against the window.

Bella did the same, propping her feet in Al's lap. "Nope!" she said casually, clasping her hands behind her head. "But I don't care."

"You should," Rei said, looking up from the book. "I have a feeling it's going to be very important, and fairly soon."

"Yeah, whatever," Bella grinned recklessly. "Take life as it comes!"

"Is that the book Bella found?" Al asked Rei.

Rei nodded. "It's…interesting. Most of this stuff could easily be called treason, if the military found it. But…" she looked down at the page she was reading. "It's interesting," she finished mysteriously, an almost evil sparkle in her eyes.

"Interesting, as in, not boring?" Bella asked. "Or interesting, as in cool, or weird, or …" she shrugged.

"Interesting, as in odd," Rei responded cryptically.

"Well, you're not much help!" Bella complained.

Ed looked over Rei's shoulder. "Hey…" he said, looking confused. "I can read some of that!"

Rei grinned. "It's a very complex 'code'," she said. "The authors used many different languages when they wrote this, so it would be very hard for one person to read this without the help of others. But the first part's all Amestrian and Japanese, so I can read most of it."

"Awesome!" Bella shouted. "Hey, can you guys teach me how to read some of the other stuff in there?" she asked, smiling. For once, it wasn't a mask: she was truly happy.

Rei shrugged, "If we have time."

"AWESOME!" Bella, who hadn't learned from last time, started running up and down the aisle way.

_Idiot…_ the other three alchemists all sweatdropped.

_Crash!_ Ed froze, looking out the window. The scenery rolled by as usual, and he frowned, confused. Looking at Rei, he saw her laughing silently. "What!" he pouted.

Rei only grinned, pointing behind him. Bella had managed to knock _something_ over, and now lay in a pile of boxes, laughing. Ed just watched for a while, before he fell of his seat laughing. _I guess…_ he thought in some small part of his mind, _…no matter what comes our way…_

…_we'll get through it, somehow…

* * *

_

Kira: -laughing- that was so fun to write... -grins- ne ways, say bii bii to Ember-baka... (Readers: WTH!) ...she's going out-of-town for the weekend, so she won't be back until monday (or sumthin like that)

Ember: -grinning like a maniac- I GETS TA GO TO --- --------! (edited for content) (jk! we can't say )

Kira: so...REVIEW!


	26. Bonus Chapter

hey all!!!! once again (after a looooong break), I, Kira, shall post...hehe, this is written by Ember-baka (which could be fatal...O.O)

* * *

WE DO NOT OWN THE SONGS SUNG IN THIS RANDOM IDIOTIC CHAPTER! IF WE DID WE WOULD BE RICH AND NOT WASTE TIME ON THIS STORY. thank u and goodnight -bows-

* * *

The five alchemists walked through the empty wastelands. Rei and Edward walking leading, Bella and Ryuu in the middle and Al behind them.

They had remained silent until someone decided to break the silence.

"Hey Angel-chan, how come we've never heard you sing?" Bella asked curiously. The emotionless girl came to a halt and a chill went up her spine as she heard the Ishbalans' question.

"Oh! Rei-samas' voice would sound like that of a thousand angels!!" Ryuu exclaimed, his eyes sparkling in excitement and joy. "Her voice would be as beautiful as her flawless, curvy body!!!" He made curves with his hands in the air. Ed turned red with anger and socked the purple-haired wonder in the jaw and Ryuu fell to the ground.

"You pervert!" Ed nearly screamed in Ryuu's ear. "Don't ever talk about Angel like that!!!" Ryuu sat up and glared at Ed.

"And why shouldn't I?" He retorted, "After all, it **is** true. The blush on your face proves it." Ryuu pointed to the small blush that had been painted across the blondes face.

Rei also had a small blush spread across her face, but was able to rid of it before anyone noticed and returned back to her normal, emotionless gaze at the two male idiots.

Ryuu no longer seemed to be paying attention as Ed glared furiously at him and caressed his cheek and moaned from the pain in his jaw.

"Poor Ryuu-kun" Bella said, leaning down and huggling the purple-haired boy in a friendly and comfortingly way, not noticing Ryuu sticking his tongue out at Ed.

Ed growled in anger and Ryuu smirked evilly. Ryuu leaned up and pressed his lips against the Ishbalans, making Ed even angrier. (and on purpose too XD)

Ed growled and grabbed the Cretian by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. Ed was ready to pounce on him and beat the living crap out of him, but was stopped when Al had held him back.

"You cruel, cruel person!" Ryuu shouted in mock hatred at Ed. "I was simply giving a friendly kiss."

"You stupid, lying, two-timing purple-hair freak!!!' Ed screamed, trying to escape his brothers' grasp. Rei sighed and Bella laughed as the two boys engaged in a war of insults.

* * *

The alchemists had grown tired and weary after a long afternoon of random insults and walking for such a long time as night fell upon them. They laid sprawled out across the wasteland, not bothering to get up and make camp.

"I'm tired…." Ed groaned, his feet sore from walking so far.

"Me too and I'm hungry." Ryuu whined, his face pressed against the cool soft ground. None of them, except maybe Ryuu, particaulary cared about their hunger issues and just wanted to fall into the peacefulness of sleep.

"Hey Angel-chan…." Bella said, lifting her head up from the ground and looked over at where the angel sat, "you never answered my question from earlier."

Rei swore silently, hoping that the idiot would forget, but as luck would have it, she didn't. Rei merely didn't answer.

Bella sighed and pushing herself up, walked over to Rei and sat down next to her, poking her in the shoulder.

"C'mon Angel-chan, sing for us."

Rei looked over at the naïve Ishbalan, a sad look on her face and still remained quiet.

"Alrighty then," the Ishbalan replied, standing back up, "I'll sing, but you gotta go after me, ok Angel-chan?"

Bella took a deep breath before starting to sing.

_You don't remember me, but I remember you  
I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you  
But who can decide what they dream, and dream I do_

_I believe in you  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
I have to be with you  
To live, to breathe  
You're taking over me_

_Have you forgotten all I know, and all we had  
You saw me mourning my love for you, and touched my hand  
I knew you loved me then_

_I believe in you  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
I have to be with you  
To live, to breathe  
You're taking over me_

_I look in the mirror and see your face  
If I look deep enough  
So many things inside that are  
Just like you are taking over_

_I believe in you  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
I have to be with you  
To live, to breathe  
You're taking over me_

_I believe in you  
I believe in you  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
I have to be with you  
To live, to breathe  
You're taking over me taking over me  
You're taking over me taking over me  
Taking over me_

The girl finished, her face slightly flushed from singing nonstop. "Ok Angel-chan…" she said, "You're turn!" she smiled and grabbed her friends' hand, forcing her up. Bella took Rei's stop and looked up at her.

Rei looked down at the ground, then back at her friend. She sighed and then started to sing her known language.

_daisuki to omou kara ne kizutsu ittari tomadottari_

_tsumetai hoho wo yose atte kokoro ga umareta_

_itsumo ima sugu ni aitai_

_mukuchi ni naruhodo suki yo yasashi sa doushitara mieru no_

_dakishimete motto tsuyoku atataka na mune wo shinjiru yo_

_sayonara solitia ashita he_

_chiisana watashi dakara zenbu demo tarinai yone_

_nanni mo kakusanai de anata ni agetai_

_mada shiroi yoake wo miokutte_

_konnani daiji na hito ni doushite meguri aetano to_

_itai hodo tsunagu yubi de sabishi sa kienu yume wo miru no_

_sayonara solitia_

_mou hitori jyanai kara ashita mezameru no anata to_

_daisuki na hito dakara ne sobani iru mamotteru_

_anata he tsunagaru daichi ni umerete yokatta_

"Yay Angel-chan!!!" Bella cheered, jumping up and hugging her friend as the other's clapped. "You were awesome!!!"

Rei looked surprised at first, but then a small smile formed on her face.

* * *

THE END!!!

* * *

Bloopers

* * *

()()()One()()()  
Ryuu: Her voice would be as beautiful as her flawless curvy body!!!

Ed: -growls- I'M GONNA-  
Rei: -has already beaten the shit out of Ryuu with an anime vein on her head- …..

Ryuu: -dramatic shocked face- HOW COULD YOU REI-SAMA?!

()()()Two()()()  
Bella: Ok I'll go first then Angel-chan, but you have to go after me –takes deep breath- TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR!!!  
Everyone: -sweatdrop-

* * *

so...-sweatdrops- i's kinda tired...oh! HAPPY EARLY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!!!!!! -grins- and look out for the -cough-nice-cough- evil vampires!! 


	27. Chp 17 Part 1

-yawns- hey, loyal readers! tis part A of chappie 18...(Kira: cause i'm lazy - and it's taking me forever to finish the chapter, and loyal readers must not wait!!)

and...-shrugs- i'm being lazy today, so read on, loyal readers!!

* * *

A single building loomed before the four alchemists, the sign reading 'MEAT' in big letters. On the door, a wreath hung, with an 'OPEN' sign on it.

"We've finally…" Ed began, looking nervous. "Come here…"

"Yup…" Al replied.

"I hope…" Ed looked ready to die. "Master isn't home!!"

"Yup!!" Al looked as hopeful as Ed, despite his armored appearance.

Rei merely watched the two, looking almost amused, while Bella openly laughed at the brothers.

"WELCOME!!" a voice shouted from behind them, and Bella jumped as high as Ed and Al.

A grin flitted across Rei's face, but she didn't bother to help any of them up.

"Come in please," said the man who had come up behind them, a full sack thrown over his shoulder. A headband kept his dark hair back, and he was openly smiling at the three fallen alchemists. "Huh?" he seemed to see Ed. "Aren't you Edward? Long time no see!"

"A-are you Mr. Maison?" Ed stuttered, still startled. "Hello…" The three stood up, and Bella sent a glare at Rei.

"Thanks for helping us up," the Ishbalan muttered. Rei grinned in reply, then looked back at Ed. Bella followed her gaze, and almost laughed out loud.

"Ha ha ha! You're as short as ever!" Maison was patting Ed's head. The face Edward was making was clear; he _hated_ Maison at the moment.

"Who's the guy in the armor? And the two chicks?" Maison seemed to have no 'people skills', as some would call it.

"I'm his little brother, Alphonse!" Al spoke up. Gesturing to the female alchemists, he introduced them. "This is Bella, and that's Angel."

"Are you here to see Izumi?" Maison asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Wait a minute! I'll go get him!!" As he opened the side door, he continued. "You're just in time. Mr. Izumi just got back from his trip!"

_If he just goes on a trip again, that would be great…_Al thought fervently.

"Ah! Boss!" Maison walked in. "We got some special guests!"

"Special guests?" a voice said, and Bella's eyes widened. The first they saw of the man was his blade, and Bella jumped. Finally, the giant stepped out, and Bella hid behind Rei. From the look on his face, she could see Ed wished he could hide as well.

"Ah?" the giant said.

"How…" Ed slowly inched behind Al.

"How do you do! Long time no see…" the suit of armor was practically trembling.

The giant towered over the trembling Ed, staring down at him. "……Edward…?"

Ed smiled, sweating.

The giant's eye twitched, and he reached an open palm out…

…to rest it on Ed's head.

"You're here. You've grown!" the giant said.

_That hurts…!!_ Ed winced.

"They are?" the giant turned toward Al, Bella, and Rei.

"Alphonse! Long time no see!"

"Really?" the giant rubbed Al's head too. "You've really grown tall!"

_First time someone's rubbed my head since I became a suit of armor…_ Al thought.

Ed gestured to the girls. "They're Bella and Angel."

"Hmm…" the giant looked at them, but to Bella's relief, did not try to rub their heads. His eyes lingered on them for a while, though, as if seeing something, before turning back to Ed. "What's the matter?"

"I have some questions for Master…" the short alchemist said.

"Then let's go! Maison, look after the shop for a while."

* * *

On the way to 'Master's'… -hides- she's evil!

* * *

"How is Master?" Ed asked worriedly. 

"She's quite healthy, although she's sick at the moment." They arrived at a house, and the giant – who Bella and Rei had learned was called Sig – called into a window. "Hey Izumi, the Elric shorty is here to see you!"

"Ed and Al?" a woman's voice asked.

"Can you get up?" Sig asked.

"Relax!" the voice replied. "I'm feeling find today!"

"Master's not feeling well," Al said worriedly.

"She's probably sleeping," Ed said.

"We're not gonna worsen her condition, are we?" Bella asked worriedly. "I mean, if she's sick…"

A foot flew out the door, knocking Ed back before he could reply. He went flying oh…a few miles (jk!) before stopping, and Al hid.

"News of you has reached us, my foolish student!" A woman stepped out, her hair in a bunch of tight coils, most held up in a pony tail. "You actually became a dog of the military? Well? YOU BETTER EXPLAIN!!"

"Don't push yourself, Izumi!" Sig held up the dead, bloody mass that once was Ed.

Al attempted to sneak away, but Izumi saw him. "Huh? Who's the walking tin can?"

"Err…um…It's his brother, Alphonse, Master…hahaha…" the tin can backed away slowly.

"Al! How tall you've grown!" she held out her hand to shake his.

"No, Master. I haven't changed much -" Al found gravity spin around as she tossed him over her shoulder.

"Not enough training!" she walked away. "And you two are…?" she glared at Bella and Rei.

"Eep!" Bella hid behind Rei.

With a sigh, Rei looked at Izumi. "I'm Rei, and the baka's Bella," she said, with a slight bow to her head. "Nice to meet you."

"Hmmm…" Izumi inspected them. "I suppose you two are dogs as well?"

"At the moment, yes," Rei replied, meeting Izumi's eyes evenly.

Izumi seemed startled by something as she looked at the girls. With a nod, she turned away.

"Isn't Master supposed to be sick?" Al asked, sitting up.

"What are you saying?!" Izumi span around, her anger back. "This is because you guys came from far away…" Blood spurted out of her mouth, and she and Sig had a 'moment'.

The brothers looked away, as if to comment on the 'nice weather'. Rei sweatdropped and Bella stifled a laugh. When the 'moment' ended, Al spoke up.

"One…one more time!" he said, sweating anxiously.

"Long time no see!" Ed looked ready to run.

"Uh, you guys are here!" Izumi slapped Ed's back hard, causing the midget to fall forward.

* * *

**A little while later…………

* * *

**

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Izumi asked, looking thoughtful. The four state alchemists, Izumi, and Sig all sat around a small table, drinking tea. (Ember: British tea!!! Kira: …-sweatdrop-)

"We were hoping you'd have some news, master," Ed said, rubbing his hands together in a nervous gesture.

Izumi looked bored. "I'm not interested in stones. Unless you are only researching this legendary item?" She looked annoyed.

"N-no!" Ed waved his arms, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Bella stifled another laugh, biting her lip. "I'm just curious!"

"…" Izumi thought for a moment. "The Philosopher's Stone…"

"Come to think of it," Sig spoke up, "on our travels at Central City, we met an alchemist who was really into stones."

"Oh, that man!" Izumi looked startled. "That's it…I think his name was Hohenheim."

Ed and Al froze, and Rei looked a little interested. Bella, however, just blinked, totally lost.

"What's he like?!" Al burst out, leaning forward.

"He was pretty tall…" Izumi began. "Blond hair, glasses, and kinda modest. I didn't know his age…But he was kinda macho!"

Sig began to fume, and Izumi instantly added, "Really! You're more macho!" as flowers began to grow out of Al's helmet. (If you don't understand, look at the manga…I dunno how else to explain it.)

"Still alive…" Al said, almost disbelievingly.

Izumi looked confused. "You guys know him?"

"He's our…father…" Al said slowly, looking away.

"The one who left home?" Izumi smiled. "That's good, right? Maybe he's still at Central City…"

"**THAT BASTARD!!!!!"** Ed's fists clenched as he stared at the ground. **"I will never ask that _bastard_ for help…!!"**

Izumi looked startled at his vehemence, as did Bella. Rei took a sip of her tea, her eyes closed as she listened intently.

"Then…what did father say?" Al asked eagerly. Unlike his brother, he only wanted his father to come home.

"Uh…" Izumi thought for a moment. "He said something about nearly fulfilling his long last dream…He looked pretty happy!"

* * *

**Later, yet again…

* * *

**

"Ohh…" Mason slurped on his noodles. "There's really such an evil person?"

"I was pretty mad then!" Ed took a bite of his meat.

"So we tricked the Eastern Corps Colonel!" Bella chirped, eating with at least a few manners.

"That idiot!" Izumi sipped on her tea. "If I had that book, I could live easy."

"Kids shouldn't be doing such dangerous stuff!" Sig declared, ripping some meat off of his drumstick with his teeth.

Al sighed. "I would like to live a peaceful life but brother would rather…"

"What!" Edward interrupted, glaring. "Putting all the blame on me!"

"Isn't it true?" Rei commented softly, gracefully sipping her tea like Izumi.

Mason looked surprised. "Out on your travels, you guys must have caused lots of trouble!"

"It doesn't usually happen!" Al assured.

"Yeah!" Ed added. "We witnessed a birth in Rush Valley!"

Bella smiled, "We helped in the delivery too, Izumi!"

"Baka," Rei sighed. "They didn't help at all," she pointed at the brothers.

"We just waited outside the birthing room," Al nodded.

Ed grinned. "Haha! It was smoother than expected too!"

"Only cause me 'n Angel-chan were helping," Bella stuck her tongue out at Edward childishly.

Al and Rei ignored the two, and the tin can added, "Thanks to everyone helping, the mother was saved too."

"It's a child that was blessed by everyone," Rei smiled faintly.

"Yeah," Izumi smiled peacefully. "You four were born like that too. That's why you have to treasure your lives."

"Speaking of which," Ed smiled. "Master, you haven't had kids…"

It was silent, until Mason slapped his hands on the table, standing up. "Edward!!" For a moment, every just stared at him dot-eyed, until he added, "…uuhh…Oh yeah! How's your alchemy coming along? Let's see the fruits of your training!"

"Sure, no problem!" Ed literally glowed, proud to show off his talents. "We've been experimenting ever since we got back!"

"Just as Master said, training our bodies too!" Al added. "Now, we can create large objects!"

"Yeah!" Bella grinned idiotically, randomly adding in stuff as she went.

"Actions speak louder than words," Rei raised an eyebrow at the overly proud Ed.

"Right!" Ed grinned. "Al!" the two walked to the door. Turning back, Ed added, "Master, over here!"

"Ok," Izumi replied. "We're coming!"

Bella skipped along behind the brothers, Rei following just behind her.

"Izumi…" Sig said worriedly.

"Ah," Izumi looked a little startled. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" She smiled at the four alchemists. "Letting these children watch the birth of a new life is a valuable experience!"

* * *

**Outside

* * *

**

Al drew a transmutation circle in the dust, the lines perfect to avoid mishap. Content with the appearance, Al placed his hands on the circle, a horse springing up out of the dirt.

"Oh!" Izumi said, pleased. "Pretty detailed work!"

"Ok!" Ed grinned. "My turn!" He slapped his hands together. A look of shock and dread flashed across Izumi's face, and he slapped his hands on the dirt near Al's horse. The horse reared up, wings sprouting out of its back.

"Brother's creation should have been more detailed!" Al reprimanded him.

"What!" Ed frowned. "You got a problem with my work?!"

As the two brothers argued, Izumi looked on, a serious expression on her face. Rei's eyebrow rose as she saw the expression on her face.

"You don't need to inscribe a circle to do that?" Izumi asked.

"Huh?" Ed blinked. "Yeah…"

Izumi looked at Al, but Al merely looked confused.

"Ed…"

"Yeah?"

"Unless…" Izumi frowned. "You have seen that thing?"

"Wha…What?" Ed laughed insecurely.

"You have seen it, right?" Izumi's expression was scary.

Ed looked down, his fists clenching. "I've seen it," he admitted.

Off to the side, Rei met Izumi's eyes, gesturing to herself and Bella. "As have we, though, on different occasions."

Bella hid behind Rei again as Izumi's dark glance swept over them. "So that's why you were called a genius," her eyes returned to Ed, "and received the acceptance of the state at such a young age…"

"I'm not a genius," Ed looked down, looking guilty. "I just saw that thing…"

"?" floated above Al's and Sig's heads.

"Master…!" Ed looked up, his eyes pleading for forgiveness.

* * *

hehe, cliffy!! i luv cliffys... 

Ember-baka's still waiting for a death threat, last i heard...i dunno -shrugs-


	28. Chp 17 Part 2

OMFG!!!!!!! WTBW is officially ONE YEAR OLD!!!! yay!!

and we authoresses are so pathetic, we've only written 17 chapters...but hey! this is the end of book 5! so ha! -sweatdrop- (Ember: sorry, ppl, Kira-sama is hyper today... Kira: sad part is, it's true...good part is, NO MORE FINALS!! -burns finals- Ember: -laughs- -blinks- wait...ACK NO! MY ART PROJECT!!! -sobs in emo corner-)

hehe...um...sorry? blame the weather - tis cold, raining, and i'm kinda sick, so i'm HYPER!!! hehe, sorry...

here's the 1st aniversary chappy!!!

* * *

"Mrs. Izumi!" called a group of children, running toward the group. "Mrs.…" the crept around Sig, "Izumi!" they finished, tugging at the alchemist's clothes.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"My train's broken!" one of them declared, holding up the object. "Help me fix it!"

"Ok," Izumi replied. "I have my tools in my house."

"Huh?" the kid looked confused, and a little disappointed. "Aren't you gonna use alchemy?"

"No!" Izumi said forcefully, walking into her house.

"Why?" another kid demanded.

"My dad said Mrs. Izumi was a powerful alchemist!" another added.

"We don't need alchemy to do this," Izumi frowned, grabbing something. "We can just use our hands."

"Using alchemy would be easier and quicker!" a kid retorted.

"Shut up!" Izumi looked annoyed. "The axle of the wheel is just broken!" She handed the fixed train back to one of the boys.

"Ew…it's ugly!" he complained, as the others laughed. "Mrs. Izumi's skills suck!"

An anime vein appeared on Izumi. "Noisy whelps!! If you don't want it fixed again you should look after your toys!"

"Heh heh," the boys grinned. "Thank you!"

The four went back outside, and they boys called, "We'll bring it back if it's broken again!" as they ran off.

"Didn't I tell you to look after it?!" Izumi shouted.

"Mrs. Izumi…" a soft voice said from the gate. The group turned to see a small girl, holding a sleeping cat.

"Manny!" Izumi looked surprised. "What happened? You need something fixed?"

The girl, Manny, shook her head. "Chiko's not moving," she said, her voice breaking. "Please fix her…"

Izumi's face was sad as she took the cat gently from Manny's arms. "She's already dead," she told the girl.

Ed and Al watched sadly, while Rei turned away, her eyes hidden. Bella looked at her questioningly, but remained silent.

"Isn't she broken?" Manny asked hopefully.

"No," Izumi shook her head. "She's dead."

Manny looked desperate. "Mrs. Izumi, please fix her!"

"I can't do that," Izumi apologized.

"I thought Mrs. Izumi could fix anything?" Manny smiled. "Even Chiko…"

"Manny…" Izumi looked at her sympathetically. "Living things are different from toys. I'm not God." She took the girl's hand, placing it over Chiko's heart, then Manny's. "Manny and Chiko both have 'life'," she explained. "Chiko's life has ended. It can't come back."

"I don't understand!" tears began to form in Manny's eyes. "Because…yesterday till…"

Izumi smiled at her sympathetically. "Though I can't bring her back to life, I can make a grave for her. Ok?" Tears streaming down her face, Manny nodded.**

* * *

On a Hill…

* * *

**"Life will come to an end, a return to the dust from which we came," Izumi said as they waved goodbye to the sobbing girl. "The spirit becomes memories, living in the minds of people. Everything changes, the same as with human life. Though I know this as a fact," Izumi looked at the setting sun, "it was difficult to tell that little girl."

"Master," Ed spoke up, "do you…think we could revive a dead person?"

"Yes," Izumi replied, speaking over her shoulder. "Ed. You think being the army's god is such a good idea? Do any of you?"

"Since it began," Bella looked down, "When we're called to be living weapons, we don't know if it means we'll have to take a life."

"I'm afraid," Ed whispered.

"But you'll do even this, to accomplish your dreams?" Izumi pressed.

"I have a dream that must be fulfilled, no matter what," Rei replied for him. "I'll die if I must, but my dream will come true. No matter what I must do. I'm sure it's the same for Bella and Edward."

Ed and Bella nodded.

Without warning, Izumi kicked backwards, her foot slamming into Ed's chin. "Looks like you didn't just break my rules!" she frowned down at him. "Al, the armor…it's empty inside."

"!!" Al's head shot up.

"Ed has a mechanical arm," Izumi's eyes narrowed at Bella and Rei. "And I'm sure you two have automail as well."

"How…" Al asked, shocked.

"How did I know?" Izumi finished for him. "When I threw you, the left and right side made different sounds," she said harshly. "You think I'm stupid? Don't take me for a fool!"

Ed looked down, ashamed. Bella, too, looked away, and even Rei's eyes dropped.

"What happened," Izumi asked, quieter than before. When it had been silent for a moment, she glared. "Speak up! What actually happened? Tell me, now!"

"………" Al looked down.

Ed's fist tightened, and he looked up. "Where should I start…"

As the Elric brothers retold the story of their past, taking turns, Izumi listened intently. Rei stood still, only her unwavering, blank stare showing her interest, while Bella watched random insects fly by.

Finally, they finished their tale. Izumi nodded, her eyes not forgiving, but not exactly accusing, either. The three – the brothers and Izumi – turned to Bella, as if expecting something.

She looked back at them quizzically, then sighed. "I guess…I should start at the beginning…"

* * *

mwahahaha! hehe...

to be honest, the only reason this chapter got typed was cause i was bored - i got myself re-re-re-re-re-rehooked on Tsubasa Chronicle a while ago, and i finished episode 52 today (wahh!!! no more till April '07! and then only in Japan, cause stupid FUNimation hasn't released it in the US yet! even tho they bought the first season of TC and XXXHolic, as well as the movies...-glares- ah! back to what i was saying...) and i was bored - and thus, the readers have every right to be happy!!

heh, umm...oh! review! and send death threats to Ember-baka!!


	29. Chp 18 Part 1

-sniffles- This chapter's so sad...but, I love it! hehe, Ember-baka has a pretyped note for you all, tho it's from a few weeks ago...

* * *

Omigosh, can you believe it? With These Broken Wings is officially one year old. I say we throw it a bonfire party. Oh yeah, whoot! Anyways, this chapter is Bellator Wings past!!! How shocking! You get to learn everything that happened, whoot! How fun. Now let's begin this chapter shall we?

* * *

"_As you know… I lived in Ishbala. It was just me, my mother, and my brother, Aubrey. My dad… left to fight in the war when I was two, so I barely remember him."_

A small girl with light brown hair and big dark red eyes was sprawled out on the floor with a large book in her hands titled, "The History and Science of Medicine" (haha.. XD)

"Bella?" someone asked. The girl looked up curiously at a boy, around twelve, her brother. He had the same features as her, dark red eyes, messy light brown hair and lightly tanned skin. He leaned down to the five-year old and smiled at her amusingly.

"That's an adult book," he said, "There's no pictures in it."

"I know…" Bella said, "But I wanna be a doctor like you and mom, Aubrey"

Aubrey smiled at his younger sister and patted her on the head.

Just then a woman stepped out of the door behind them. She looked about twenty-eight, with dark, wavy brown hair, darkly tanned skin, and like the children, dark red eyes.

She looked tired from work and slumped down against the door.

"Momma!" Bella said, excitement in her voice as she jumped up and hugged the woman.

"Hey Bella," her mother smiled at her, hugging her back.

"Are you done with all the patients now? Can you play with me and Aubrey? Have you heard anything from dad? Is he coming home?" Bella asked.

Her mother smiled sadly. "No, I can't Bella," she said, avoiding the last two questions. "Why don't you and Aubrey go play outside and I'll catch up with you later?"

"Ok!" Bella grabbed her brothers' hand and dragged him towards the door.

As Aubrey looked back while closing the door, he looked sadly at his mother as she began to cry.

* * *

One Year Later

* * *

6 year old Bella and 13 year old Aubrey were out playing around in some abandoned meadow. 

"_Aubrey and I were very close siblings, even if we were seven years apart. We didn't go anywhere without each other, partially because of the war. But… there was one time when we did get separated….."_

Bella waited on a rock, swinging her legs back and forth. Her left leg had a huge gash in it from falling on some glass. Aubrey had told her to stay there while he went and got their mom. He would have carried her, but the wooden board over the river that they crossed couldn't handle so much weight at once.

Bella stared at the sky, bored, hoping her brother would return soon. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a strange kitten. She turned her head and looked at the cat. The cat was black with a white face, belly and paws. What was strange about the kitten was its ghostly aura and eyes. Its eyes were a soft shade of blue, but no pupil; it looked soulless.

She blinked as the kitten meowed at her, as if telling her something. The kitten ran off but stopped after a few feet and stared back curiously at Bella.

Bella got down from the rock, wincing from the pain in her leg, and limped over to the kitten.

She followed the ghostly kitten to a burnt mansion. Although the mansion was badly burnt, it was still standing. The kitten ran inside the mansion leaving Bella outside. Then, it started to rain extremely hard. Terrified it might turn into a lightning storm, she ran inside after the kitten.

Her white dress soaked in blood was now also soaked in rain. The blood had stopped bleeding in her leg, but the wound was still fresh.

She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering as she walked inside the dark, gloomy mansion. It was dark and Bella had to strain her eyes to see where she was going, but unfortunately, she ran into a wall.

"Ow…" she moaned, rubbing the spot on her cheek that had been hit. A meow came from behind her and she turned around to see the small kitten. It meowed again and rubbed up next to the wall. But it wasn't a wall. It was a large black door with lots of chains wrapped around it and a giant lock was placed in the middle of the door at about the height of Bella's head.

"You want me to open it?" Bella questioned the kitten. She turned and pressed against the door, but it wouldn't budge.

_I guess I have to use alchemy…. _She thought, looking around in the dark for something to draw an alchemy circle with, but nothing could be found.

Out of desperation, she bit the tip of her finger and placed it against he door to draw a transmutation circle with her blood. She placed her hands on the bloody circle and a light blue alchemy light flashed. When the light disappeared, the lock was broken.

Bella gently pressed the door and it swung open. She let out a scream and jumped back. There was nothing there. Cautiously, she crept forward and examined the room inside.

It was totally pitch black from burns inside, except for a single light.. The light was swaying back and forth slowly as it flickered on and off. It was almost dead.

Under the light was a small girl, around Bella's age, curled up in a ball. Her back was faced to Bella, so she couldn't see her face. She had long floor length blonde hair with brown streaks flowing all around her and she wore a black tube top with a black trench coat and black baggy pants.

"Hello?" Bella asked quietly, though her voice echoed throughout the room. The girl slowly turned around so Bella could see her face.

The girl had blue-green eyes…. Eye, because her left eye had a bandage over it.

"Anata…. Wa…?" the girl asked, looking hatefully at the intruder.

Bella cocked her head tot eh side with a confused look on her face. She didn't understand a word the girl had spoken.

The girl stood up and reached for the sheath at her belt and swung out her hand like she had drawn a sword, but there was no sword and the girl looked at her hand surprised.

Bella giggled and said, "You're funny." She smiled at the girl and held out her hand politely. "I'm Bella," She said.

The girl looked at Bella like she was an idiot

"So what's your name? How old are you? Is this your mansion? Where are your parents? Do you have any siblings?" Bella's questions were as fast as the speed of light.

The girl ignored the hyper Ishbalan and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Bella said, grabbing the girls' arm, but the girl turned around and slapped her hand away.

Bella gave the girl a hurt look as she rubbed the spot where the girl had slapped her and looked down at the ground ashamed. The girl just glared hatefully at her.

Suddenly, lightning flashed in the window in front of them, thunder crashed loudly. Bella's pupils shrunk in fear and she let out an ear-splitting scream. The girl slapped her hands over her ears as the scream continued.

Bella started to shake in fear and dropped to the floor. She curled up, hiding her head in her knees and started to cry.

The girl was alarmed by Bella's reaction and kneeled down next to her, shushing her quietly, trying to calm the frightened girl down. The girl leaned down to Bella's ear and began singing ever so softly. So quietly, you couldn't make out the words, it was like a soothing sound.

Bella's cries toned down to soft whimpers as she calmed down and the lightning disappeared.

"T….thank you…." Bella sniffled as she stood up, wiping tears away.

The ghostly cat from before ran into the room, meowing wildly. The girl glanced at the kitten and smiled, petting the kitten on the head. The kitten leapt and jumped onto the girls' shoulder.

"Is that your cat?" Bella asked quietly.

The girls' smile faded and she nodded sadly.

"Can you talk at all?"

The girl glared as Bella asked her question.

"Well, can I at least know your name?"

The girl turned to leave, but heard someone shouting something from outside.

"BELLA!!!"

Bella's eyes went wide in shock.

"Aubrey!" she exclaimed worriedly. She raced towards the entrance of the mansion. Curious, the girl followed her.

Bella raced across the grass and jumped into her brothers' arms. He hugged her tightly, then put her back down on the ground.

"Bella?! Where have you been?! I told you not to leave the rock!" he shouted harshly.

Bella's face turned all cute and apologetic as she said "Sowwy…" in her child-like voice. Aubrey's face softened and he ruffled her hair.

"Just don't do it again, ok?" he said. Bella jumped up and hugged him saying "ok!"

The girl stood by the door, staring at the two siblings and looked at them sadly, missing her family.

* * *

One Year Later

* * *

Bella (age 7) and Aubrey (age 14) were walking back from their visit to their grandparent's house. Their mother would had come, if her family hadn't disowned her for getting pregnant at age 16 with Aubrey. Their grandparents were still bitter about that, but allowed for their grandkids to visit. 

Bella was on Aubrey's shoulders, squealing with delight cause she was up so high. As they reached their house, they saw it engulfed in flames and Amesterian soldiers surrounding the house.

Aubrey's grip from Bella's legs left and she went tumbling off his shoulders and onto a soft patch of grass.

"Ow…..Aubrey!" she complained, but he ignored her. He saw something horrifying that would scar him for the rest of his life, the bloody corpse of his mother lying by the Furher of Amestria.

Screaming, he charged at the man with the eye patch, leaving Bella behind. The soldiers lunged at him, grabbing him and pulled his arms behind his back so he couldn't move, and held their guns to his head. The man with the eye patch's face remained emotionless.

"How could you kill her?! She helped your fucking people!!!" Aubrey roared at the man, fighting back tears, "You killed her because she's Ishbalan?! How pathetic is that!!! You fucking bastard! You left my sister motherless!!!"

"Aubrey…?" Aubrey looked back and saw his frightened sister behind him.

"Bella! Get out of her-" he shouted, but one of the soldiers grabbed her, restraining her as she thrashed around and covered her mouth with his hand so she couldn't scream.

"Let her go!!" Aubrey screamed in the man's face. The man drew out his sword, and Aubrey's eyes widened in fear, but slightly relaxed when the man just held it up to examine it.

"I don't particularly like killing children, but…." He said, glaring at Aubrey, "If you do not get out of here now, I will have no mercy and give you and your sister the same fate as your mother."

The men restraining Aubrey threw him to the ground, as well as Bella. Aubrey scrambled to his feet and grabbed his sister quickly, running away from the running house. Bella had her face pressed against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. She had seen her dead mother.

* * *

aww, poor Bella...now let's all pity her at once, on the count of three - one, two, three - haha!! jk -sweatdrops- 

ne ways, Ember-baka's about to kill me with a plastic spoon cause she hasn't gotten a death threat yet, so PLEASE, someone send her one! -sweatdrops- i'm not joking - she wants one, for w/e reason...


End file.
